Bonds & Scars
by ThatGuyYouMetOnce
Summary: A boy suddenly appears in the guild who happens to look exactly like Jellal. What could his appearance mean, and could it have something to do with the newly formed Hydra Claw guild? Contains OC's. Rated T just to be safe.
1. Arrival

**AN: Okay! So, this is my Fairy Tail fanfic. I REALLY hope anyone who reads it enjoys it. I'm just your average fan of the show, but I really wanted to try my hand at an actual fanfic. If you liked it, please let me know why! If you didn't like it, please let me know why!**

**Notice: I do not own Fairy Tail. All rights to the show, its characters, its settings, etc. belong to Hiro Mashima. However, this fanfic DOES contain numerous OC's (original characters) of my own design. These characters, and nothing else, are mine.**

**Now that that's out of the way, please enjoy and tell me what you think!**

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Chapter 1: Arrival

As the never-ending rain drummed monotonously on the windows of her apartment, Lucy Heartfilia couldn't help but feel content. She'd just gotten back from a simple mission with Team Natsu, earned enough money to pay for her next rent (which was still several weeks away), and by some measure of restraint and luck, her teammates had actually managed not to destroy anything! "It's certainly been a while since Natsu _hasn't_ gone overboard," she chuckled to herself.

Suddenly Lucy's train of thought was derailed as an earsplitting thunderclap shook the windows of her apartment. She glanced up with a start, and then began to relax again once the soothing sound of the rain resumed.

Only it didn't last long. Thunderclap after thunderclap followed in short order, each one with a brighter flash than the last. On the seventh thunderclap a face appeared in her window. It was the face of her best friend, Natsu, the one who had first brought her into the Fairy Tail guild all those years ago. He had a habit of breaking into her apartment when he wasn't wanted, but at this particular moment Lucy was just happy to see him. She could use a friend to keep her company during the storm. It wasn't until he opened the window that she noticed he wore the most serious of expressions on his face.

"Something big just went down. Master requested all hands on deck, so I came to get you. Come on, we're going to go see if he's up yet."

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Lucy ran with Natsu through the torrential storm as he filled her in on all he knew.

"The guild was just winding down for the night when all the thunder and lightning started. Suddenly, he just _appeared_ on the floor. Like, one moment, nothing was there, and then there was a flash of light, and there he was," Natsu explained.

"Who is _he_, Natsu? Who are you talking about?" Lucy panted.

"You'll find out," Natsu replied grimly.

The two wizards rushed into the Fairy Tail guildhall, where everyone else was already crowded around something in the center. Lucy could certainly guess what. Natsu shoved his way through the crowd so he and Lucy could get to the front. Mirajane sat on a chair at the center of the crowd. In her arms was a boy, presumably the same boy Natsu had spoken of.

The boy looked to be in his late teens, about as old as Natsu and Lucy were themselves. The boy was tall, taller than most would be at his age, and his hair was the brightest shade of teal. Slung over his shoulder was a sheath containing a pair of broadswords. He wore dress pants and a brown striped jacket, which was ripped open to reveal his well-toned stomach. In fact, giving him the ole' once-over, Lucy immediately decided that she found him devilishly handsome. But she instantly shook that thought out of her brain, for the most striking part of his appearance was the familiar red tattoo placed above and under his left eye.

The boy in Mirajane's arms was Jellal.

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I already have the first six or so chapters written, so I plan on updating with a new one every day or so. Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading!


	2. The Boy From the Heavens

**AN: I figured since I've now got the first seven chapters written, I might as well post the second one since it makes a good immediate follow-up to the first. If you haven't yet, PLEASE review! I look forward to anyone telling me why they did or didn't like my story. This is my first fanfic, so I really just want to find out what people think of my story. If you liked it, please tell me why! If you didn't, please tell me why!**

**Notice: I don't own Fairy Tail. All rights to its characters, settings, etc. go to Hiro Mashima. HOWEVER, this fic does contain multiple OC's. These, and these alone, are mine.**

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Chapter 2: The Boy From the Heavens

Erza couldn't believe it. After all this time, he was really back.

Jellal- she couldn't even process how much he meant to her. She couldn't comprehend the sheer devastation she felt when he finally regained his memory of the past, of his feelings for _her_, only to be taken to rot by the Magic Council as repentance for crimes he committed while possessed by an evil force. It wasn't fair, but somehow he was back. How he was back from the Magic Council prison didn't matter. The time of night didn't matter. This storm raging around her as she walked back to the guild didn't matter. All that mattered was that she should see him immediately.

She rushed into the guild and swept aside her fellow guild members. There he was, unconscious in Mirajane's arms. Sensitive to Erza's emotions, Mirajane relinquished Jellal to her. For a brief second, Erza cradled Jellal's unconscious body in her arms before something involuntary came over her and she dropped his limp body onto the floor.

"This boy is not Jellal," she shouted over the uproar of her guildmates.

"Whaddaya mean, Erza?" Wakaba queried. "He's got the face, the hair, and even the tattoo to prove it, doesn't he?"

"No," Erza snapped, "he doesn't. This boy's nose is three millimeters shorter than Jellal's, his hair is one-and-a-half shades too bright, and most importantly, _his tattoo's on the left eye. Jellal's is on his right eye._"

Suddenly Erza realized just with what incredible detail she had described Jellal. Her face flushed with embarrassment as her mind flooded with thoughts of the all-too-brief moments she and Jellal had stolen before the Magic Council took him away…

Luckily, a certain pink-haired dragonslayer came to her rescue. "I don't know about the first two things you said, Erza, but the third thing really did make sense. This boy's tattoo is on the opposite side from Jellal's tattoo." Suddenly the dragonslayer's eyes widened in realization. "That means this guy must be…"

"Mystogan?" Erza interjected.

"Some imposter trying to infiltrate the guild! Get him!" Natsu bellowed and started towards the boy, still unconscious on the floor.

The other Fairy Tail members cried out in surprise and moved to restrain Natsu, the result being what appeared to be the beginnings of a classic Fairy Tail riot. Nearly everyone in the guild moved to join in, including Erza. However, meanwhile Lucy scooped up the poor boy's crumpled body and began stroking his teal hair. "Hi. I'm Lucy, from the Fairy Tail guild. Who are you?" she whispered into his ear. "I really would like to meet you."

Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light. Everyone turned from their riot to stare in shock at the body of the boy, whose eyes and tattoo had just lit up with an intense white glow. Incredible magic power was radiating from the boy's frame.

_I don't believe it,_ Makarov thought to himself. _Could this boy be…_ _Nah._

Suddenly the pulsating light died down. As the light began to fade, the boy's hair and tattoo permanently turned stark white. With the last remnants of the light gone, the boy opened his eyes.

Lucy started at the mere sight of them. The boy's eyes were simply… inconceivable. Around his pupils, where there would ordinarily be brown, or blue or green, or gray, there was no color at all. They were see-through. But you could still see the outlines of the different parts of his eye, and somehow, the voids in his corneas gave form to a new kind of substance. Looking into his eyes was simply so… _enchanting _that Lucy couldn't look away. The only thing that snapped her out of her mesmerizing trance was his voice, cool and smooth as a mountain stream.

"Hello… Lucy, of Fairy Tail." he said to her smiling face, filled with wonder. "Please… take me to the stars…"

And with that he passed out again.

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Thanks so much for reading! Again, I cannot stress this enough, PLEASE review! It would mean the world to me :)


	3. Sic

**AN: If you haven't yet, PLEASE review! I look forward to anyone telling me why they did or didn't like my story. This is my first fanfic, so I really just want to find out what people think of my story. If you liked it, please tell me why! If you didn't, please tell me why!**

**Notice: I don't own Fairy Tail. All rights to its characters, settings, etc. go to Hiro Mashima. HOWEVER, this fic does contain multiple OC's. These, and these alone, are mine.**

**Also, Sic's name is pronounced "seek," just like the Latin word.**

Chapter 3: Sic

It was seven days since Sic had woken up to the sight of the face of Lucy Heartfilia. The other guild members seemed to at last have stopped acting strangely around him. He was wandering throughout the guildhall with a platter of drinks on his arm, serving rounds to anyone who cared for a shot of alcohol. Sic didn't think much of this task, but it was what was assigned to him by the woman with silver hair who had nursed him back to health, named…. Mirajoan, he believed. He wasn't good with anyone's names. Except for Lucy Heartfilia's, of course. That one seemed to roll off his tongue and resonate through his skull.

At any rate, he was in the process of serving drinks when he noticed a certain table, which seemed more boisterous than the rest. That was Lucy's table. She was having lunch with Grade Forebullster, Minerva Scradlett, and Nasty Draggle. There was also that one blue cat, with the incredibly curious name. What was it, Harpy? No, Happy. Of all of these names, that was the one that intrigued Sic the most. It seemed the same as any ordinary name, yet people regularly used the word as if it had a common meaning. Given that Sic's terminology was consummate in capacity, it most certainly intrigued him what the word _happy_ could possibly mean. Ah, but that was trivial, unimportant. The two boys certainly were unnecessarily slipshod eaters, he noticed to himself matter-of-factly.

Suddenly he noticed something else. The pink-haired one they called Nasty Draggle was acting strangely. He was clutching at his sides as if he were in pain, and the motions he made with his mouth suggested that he was retching, or air was attempting to get out. This certainly was not too far-fetched a theory, given how recklessly the boy inhaled his nutriment. Sic suddenly realized that the boy was about to choke. Now, ordinarily Sic would not have been troubled by this- he didn't particularly _like_ Nasty Draggle, after all- but he did appear to be of somewhat importance to Lucy Heartfilia, and for whatever reason, he felt that it was important that this boy's life be saved.

Natsu never saw it coming. He was just in the middle of enjoying a fabulous lunch with his closest friends, laughing at one of Happy's ridiculous jokes, when he felt a sudden quick blow to his stomach, and suddenly the contents of said stomach were spread out all over the table- his lunch, along with more than a little fire, which promptly began to spread throughout the guildhall. While Gray and Erza panickedly put out the fire, Natsu whipped around to give Gajeel a piece of his mind. He was incredibly surprised to find out who was standing behind him.

For some reason, the one who'd given him the Heimlich maneuver was not Gajeel, but that creepy new white-haired Jellal look-alike. Natsu hadn't given him much thought in the past week, had never spoken to him, never given him any reason to dislike him, and now he was deprived of his lunch. What a jerk!

"You jerk!" Natsu yelled. For some reason, Sic seemed surprised, as if he expected Natsu to _thank_ him. _Fat chance, bub. I never turn down a fight._ "Fire Dragon… Roar!" Natsu shouted through hands cupped over his mouth. Yet nothing came out. "Goddammit! All the fire in my belly's gone!"

Sic quizzically cocked his head sideways, turned around, and left to wait more tables. He didn't understand this boy's behavior at all. Abruptly a large man with a mane of long, black hair blocked his path.

"Hey, Pillowhead. I appreciate the effort, but I'M the resident Natsu bully around here. You can just butt out," Gajeel snarled with all his teeth.

Sic replied with a face devoid of emotion, "Please refrain from grimacing like that. I understand you must be in immense pain from all those iron studs piercing your face, but I'm sure a man of your age must be able to endure."

"Why, you!" Gajeel roared, and struck Sic across the face with an Iron Dragon Claw, sending him flying clear across the room and crashing into the wall, leaving a noticeable dent.

Sic got up without a word, covered in broken glass and alcohol, and calmly walked out of the guildhall in disgust.

"What the heck was that for, you guys? You made Sic upset _again_!" Lucy scolded Natsu and Gajeel furiously.

"What? He started it!" both boys yelled, but when they realized they had spoken in unison, they just shrugged and started brawling. Lucy sighed in exasperation and ran off to find Sic.

She found him at the same place she always did: sitting at the edge of the cliff next to his makeshift cottage overlooking the sea; it really was the most beautiful view you could find anywhere in or around Magnolia. Of course, when Lucy first pointed this out to Sic, he adamantly denied that was his reason for choosing the spot. Now, most of the people in the guild avoided or looked down on Sic because of his weird behavior, but Lucy was incredibly interested by the guy. It was like he couldn't sense _emotion_ or something equally crazy. That, and… well, she couldn't get enough of his eyes. Shhh.

"You really don't have to talk to me when I come out here to be alone, you know," Sic said over his shoulder without turning. Lucy wondered how on earth he had sensed her approach.

"That's okay, I enjoy talking to you," the blonde smiled cheerfully as she scooched down to sit next to Sic.

Sic's gaze remained hard and constant, anchored toward the horizon. "I will never understand the imbeciles that live here," he said in his usual blunt, matter-of-fact tone of voice.

"Come on, Sic, calm down. Will you tell me a story? You tell the best stories."

"No."

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?"

"No."

That was too bad. He really did tell the best stories. Even though most of the stories he'd told so far were adaptations of simple children's tales, Sic had expanded each one of them into its own living, breathing, epic masterpiece. When he began storytelling was the one time when the whole guild just sat and listened, enraptured by his smooth, soothing voice and whimsical, heart-pounding plot-twists. But the best stories were undoubtedly the ones he reserved just for her. It really was too bad that he said no.

Sic finally averted his eyes from the horizon, and as he caught Lucy's stare, his gaze softened. "Okay, perhaps just one."

Lucy's face immediately perked up. "Yaay!"

"Okay. This story here is actually a true one. It's about how I lost my ability to use magic."

**What do you think? Again, please review! It would mean the world to me :)**


	4. The White Prison

**AN: I know I wasn't gonna update until tomorrow, but I just finished writing chapter 8 and I've heard some people are looking forward to the next one, so I decided to just post another one.**

**Notice: I don't own Fairy Tail, or any of its characters, settings, etc. However, this fix does contain multiple OC's. These, and these alone, are mine.**

**Hope you enjoy, and as always, I would LOVE feedback! If you liked it, tell me why! If you didn't like it, tell me why!**

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Chapter 4: The White Prison

Sic didn't really focus too much when he told stories. He simply remembered, and let his thoughts flow from his brain to his mouth. The entire time, Lucy stared at him, enraptured by the sound of his narrating voice.

It was dusk. Sic was walking home from school in the city of Cortshire. He was practicing his magic as he walked. Although his parents had told him not to look too far into his innate magic power, he couldn't help but be curious and mystified by his own abilities. So as he walked, he called forth little wisps of light, forming little shapes that began to enact a story.

Realizing that he was almost home, he quickly snuffed out his magic and skipped over to his house. Sic knocked on the door, but was surprised that no one came to open it for him. Puzzled, he pushed on the door and discovered that it gave way. Slowly he crept into the house.

It was very quiet here. Too quiet.

No one was home. He searched every room until he came to his older brother's room. Even though he was strictly forbidden from entering there, Sic had to see if anyone was hiding there. Where were his parents, and his younger and older brothers? After opening the door a crack and slipping quietly through, he noticed his older brother kneeling in front of the bed. He sounded like he was laughing. No, no, he was crying. Maybe a little of both. He whipped his tear-streaked face around when he noticed Sic's presence.

"There! Are you happy now?"

"What?" little Sic replied. "What are you talking about? Where are Mama and Papa and Jellal?"

His older brother's expression turned to one of pure anger. "THEY TOOK THEM AWAY! THEY TOOK THEM AWAY BECAUSE OF YOU! THEY'RE GONE, ALL BECAUSE YOU HAD TO GO AND ENDANGER US BY PRACTICING YOUR STUPID MAGIC!"

Sic took a step back. "What are you talking about? How did you know? Where did they take them?"

His brother took one menacing step forward. "They took them… they said they were taking them to the Tower of Heaven. I don't care what that means. I just care _why._ They said it was because your powers had _progressed_. They said that it was because you were growing too powerful and you needed to be _broken_." His fists began to glow, and his face turned to one of pure hatred. "Well, let's see just how powerful you are." In each of his hands appeared a long cutting knife.

Sic was taken aback by his brother's use of magic. "Wait, I didn't know that you-"

"Save your breath," his brother charged at him with both knives raised in fury.

Sic screamed and ran back into the living room. Desperately he tried to open the door outside, but for some reason it wouldn't budge. Eyes filled with panic, he turned to see his brother lurching drunkenly out of his room, slashing at things at random, carving a path of destruction as he made his way toward Sic.

In desperation Sic grabbed his father's ceremonial broadswords from over the fireplace and held them up in a defensive stance. "Please," Sic begged. "I don't want to fight, but I _will_ defend myself." But as he looked down at his shaking knees, he knew that was a lie.

Laughing, his brother knocked the swords out of his hands and down onto the floor, then pushed Sic down to join them. Gleefully, he took his knife and began to cut into Sic's shoulder with eyes like a possessed demon.

Sic couldn't imagine anything being more painful and terrifying. As his brother's knife cut through the arteries and veins in his shoulder, Sic felt something snap within him. It felt as though all the magic power inside him began leaking out through his shoulder (Later, Makarov would inform him that his "magic artery" must have been snapped). As his brother raised his knives and then lowered them towards Sic's face, Sic let out a terrifying, bloodcurdling scream.

After a blinding flash of light, Sic's body was floating towards the sky, and he was looking down on his brother for the last time, who clutched his face in agony. As his wounds somehow began to close, Sic felt something much more important than his magic leave his body, but it was impossible for him to put his finger on exactly what it was.

Sic kept floating towards the sky until he disappeared into a white cell, so high that no one could possibly survive due to lack of oxygen. There, with closed eyes, he felt his body begin to change. His body lengthened and widened. His father's broadswords appeared on his back. Muscles developed on his arms and chest. He wasn't sure how much of this part of the story he actually told Lucy, but for some reason his cheeks began to turn a little red. That was puzzling.

This process was both exhilarating and agonizing. The entire time, Sic felt as though all the experiences he would've had in his future years, had the previous events not taken place, were being stuffed into his skull, his veins, and his heart. But the worst part was that it felt the same way as if he were sitting alone in a white room for ten years. The loneliness built up and burst, until Sic finally became immune. As his body elongated over what seemed to be an eternity, he watched the stars move. He loved the stars. They were the only things there that ever changed, and they never left him like the rest of his life had. That was the only comforting thing about his prison. Then, at one final moment, a deep voice spoke to him.

"Sic. The time has come for you to return to the world. You must find the one who can set things right with your family. Look for him among the stars."

And then he fell. And fell. And fell.

The next time he opened his eyes, all he could see was the wondering face of Lucy Heartfilia.

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**Thanks so much for reading, and please don't forget to review! It would mean the world to me :) Also, if you haven't yet, check out my sister's account (nightowl880.) Her NaLu fanfic is really good.**


	5. The Hydra Claw Guild

**AN: Hey look, it's time for another update! Hooray! I hope everyone enjoys. I'd like to dedicate this chapter to fellow OC-lover M0M3NTAI as thanks for the reviews, and in honor of the new OC's. Once again, thanks so much for reading, and any reviews would be greatly appreciated.**

**Now, another thing to note: during this chapter there will be introduced an OC whose name, while I think fits them perfectly, is extremely close in spelling to that of a prominent regular Fairy Tail character. Just warning you. I'll have more on this at the bottom after the story.**

**Notice: I don't own Fairy Tail, or any of its characters, settings, etc. HOWEVER, this fic does contain numerous OC's. These, and these alone, are mine.**

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Chapter 5: The Hydra Claw Guild

Gray opened his eyes as the circular rune of his Ice Make magic appeared before his interlocking fists. "Ice Make Hammer," he said in a confident tone.

"Gyaaah!" the bandit exclaimed as he went down under the force of Gray Fullbuster's ice-fashioned hammer. Gray noticed Erza making short work of the other bandits around him.

It was nice to go on another solo mission with Erza. While their mission wasn't too difficult- just take care of some bandits- it was reassuring knowing he had the power of the Great Titania by his side. He felt somehow incredibly at ease just fighting alongside her. It was difficult to explain.

They finished off the remaining bandits. For a second, Erza and Gray simply stood around and admired their handiwork, until they realized that the bandit leader was still standing. Standing, and grinning.

"Well, it was nice that you took so long getting rid of my underlings," he said as he pulled away the curtain covering the back of the bandit gang's cart. "I look forward to blasting you fairies off the face of the Earth!"

Gray noticed in horror that sticking out of the back of the carriage was a fully armed, ready-to-fire mini-Jupiter Cannon.

He barely had time to yell a warning and pull Erza to the ground. But she stood steadfast and requipped into her Adamantine Armor. Joining her two shields together with a defiant yell, she stood her ground. Gray knew she would be able to resist the Jupiter Cannon, too. He'd seen her do it before.

But just as it was about to fire, a small, light blue disc spiraled forward and sliced the cannon's head off, causing it to explode in the bandit leader's face. When the smoke cleared, he lay on the ground, unmoving. But Gray didn't really think too much about that, because it was then that he noticed the five wizards standing in a horizontal line above the bandit leader's body, staring him and Erza down.

The man on the far left was of average height, with golden-brown skin and yellow eyes. He wore only a simple cotton tunic, exposing his arms and legs, which looked to be made of nothing more than skin and bone. His head was wrapped in a white turban, smattered with brown specks. A short snake was coiled around his neck and shoulders, and as he stared intently at Gray with his menacing yellow eyes, specks of dirt began to lift off the ground and swirl around him.

Second from the left was a young girl about thirteen, with wavy blond hair tied back behind a silver tiara. Her pale skin seemed to radiate silver in the moonlight. Slung over her back were a bow and quiver, and although her foot was tapping impatiently, her face remained calm and serene.

On the far right was a boy of smaller stature, although his face revealed that he had more years under his belt than his size let on. He had bright red hair close-cropped neatly to the sides of his face, the color of which stood out glaringly from the cool blue tint of his armor. His armor in itself was mesmerizing, as it was composed of seemingly infinite interlocking circular plates that reflected the light of the moon in an interesting pattern. Even more intriguing about him were the two mechanical-looking slots in his wrists, from each of which the tip of another disc seemed to protrude. From each of his ears dangled a small, disc-shaped earring. He glowered at the two Fairy Tail members as if they had just eaten the last cookie without his permission.

Second from the right was an absolute beast of a man. He stood at about seven feet tall, with a mess of dirty blonde hair and a body (wearing only a loincloth) absolutely racked with muscles. But that wasn't even the scary part. No, that honor went to the man's face, which was stretched impossibly, cartoonishly wide to account for his enormous mouth. Seriously, his mouth must've taken up at least a third of his entire body's surface area. His teeth looked like the kind of spikes a five-year-old would draw: ridiculously long and sharp and positioned at strange, random angles. Small streams of drool came out of his mouth as he focused intently on Erza with small, beady eyes.

Finally, Gray focused his gaze on the boy, about seventeen, standing in the middle of the company. His jet-black hair was teased in a pointed spike straight into the air over his forehead, and was close-cropped in the back. He wore black jeans and a loose-fitting, brown cloak over his body that barely concealed the close-fitting shirt that pronounced his abs. Attached to his belt was a scabbard, which was for some reason empty, as if there only for decoration. He would've had an extremely handsome face; even Gray would've had to admit, if it weren't for one glaring imperfection. Two, actually; down his face ran two bright red scars that intersected on his nose, forming a perfect X. Despite the ugly face-markings, Gray could tell by glancing at Erza that she couldn't take her eyes off his devilish smile. The realization made Gray sick. At this point, Gray was pretty sure he knew why.

Gray recognized the boy, and he was sure Erza did as well.

Certainly she did, since they had both read the top story and front cover of today's edition of _Sorcerer Weekly_ magazine.

The boy was Ezra Mathin, known as the "Steel Whirlwind," of the newly formed Hydra Claw guild. He was an S-class wizard, conqueror of five dark guilds (at the same time), and as of last week, a newly inducted member of the Ten Wizard Saints.

Gulp.

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**Sooo, yeah. His name is Ezra. Since he and Erza will interact a lot (wink wink) I'd REALLY like to know now if people think that's a problem. Everyone who reads PLEASE leave a review about whether or not you think his name is to similar to Erza's. If there's a problem, I WILL change it.**

**But seriously, it brightens my day every time I see a review, a follow or even my views going up. I hope EVERYONE who reads enjoys it, and if you didn't, I would love to know why so I can fix it. Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you have a nice day.**


	6. Introductions are in Order

**AN: Hey everybody! Thanks for checking out my story so far. This has been a lot of fun to write and I hope it's been just as fun a read. Since nobody objected to Ezra's name, I'll leave it like it is. If any future readers have a problem with it, I'm truly sorry.**

**Notice: I don't own Fairy Tail. Its characters, settings etc. belong to Hiro Mashima. However, this fic does contain multiple OC's. These, and these alone, are mine.**

Chapter 6: Introductions are in Order

Of course Erza recognized Ezra Mathin. Just his face on the cover of the magazine had somehow radiated power. But relatively up close and personal, there was no comparison at all. Power seemed to roll off his body in surging waves, each one forcing her to use a little bit of energy just to avoid taking a step back. And yet these weren't the kind of waves of magic that usually radiated from people of his power level. The magic power Ezra exuded was warm and friendly, but also fierce and uncontrollable, like the kind of powerful ocean wave you couldn't wait to surf. Quite similar to Makarov's, actually. And his fellow guildmates definitely didn't seem like pushovers either.

The waves of magic power immediately subsided when Ezra spoke: "Greetings, friends. It is an honor to finally meet a few members from the legendary Fairy Tail guild. It is an honor to meet you, great Titania Erza and Gray Fullbuster. My name is Ezra Mathin, of the Hydra Claw guild, and these are my comrades." He bowed.

"Are you sure we should be this friendly towards them, Ezra, sir?" the young blonde girl inquired. "Perhaps it would be in our best interest if we were to remain aloof."

"Ah, shut it, Fenra. We know they mean no harm," the red-haired, disc-laden man snapped. "Fairy Tail is our fellow guild, and they even took out those bandits we were stalking for us. As long as they don't like square things, they're fine by me."

"Maw don't know what you two said, but they look tasty! Maw eat!" the large man with the even larger mouth roared and started towards them, but the red-haired man grabbed Maw by the back of his shirt and, grunting, yanked him back into the line.

"Come on, Maw, these guys are friendly, remember? I promise, if they turn out to be square-lovers, you can eat them all you want. Deal?"

"Okay, Nath," the mouth man pouted.

Erza heard Gray's voice whisper in her ear. "These guys are _really_ weird."

"It's okay, they're harmless," she whispered back. "Remember, they're strong wizards from a strong fellow guild. We need to make a good impression." She requipped back into her normal armor and turned back to face the wizards. "It is truly an honor to meet such decorated wizards from such a celebrated guild. You must be Head Five, the most powerful team in the Hydra Claw guild."

The turbaned man, who had remained silent thus far, suddenly spoke. "Just as the serpent does not dance to simple music, so will we not answer to your unabashed flattery." The snake on his shoulders hissed.

Erza stared back at him with her mouth open, perplexed.

Ezra spoke again, chuckling at his partner's words. "Well said, Kamarr." Then, addressing Erza and Gray, he said, "You'll have to excuse my friend. He's always looking out for Head Five's wellbeing. He meant no disrespect. If you'll excuse us, we shall now be on our way so that we trouble you no longer."

That struck a chord within Erza. There was no way she wanted Ezra to leave so soon. Not before she got the chance to duel him. You see, Ezra was rumored to be a requip wizard with some kind of special skill that no other possessed, not even Erza herself. She simply _had_ to see if Ezra would be willing to teach her. That and, well, she had never gotten the chance to spar with a requip wizard with skills that rivaled her own.

"Nonsense," she responded. "It's far too late for you all to get back home. Please, come spend the night at the guild. I promise everyone will make you feel more than welcome."

Gray's questioning voice murmured softly behind her. "Erza… are you sure this is a good idea?"

She put a hand on his shoulder to silence him. "So, what do you say? It's the least we could do for you since you helped us defeat the bandits."

Ezra's sly smile stretched into a full-on grin. "We would love to," he said. "Right, guys?"

The rest of his team didn't seem so thrilled with the idea. Fenra, Maw and Nath all seemed doubtful, while Kamarr's silent, emotionless face betrayed nothing.

"There'll be plenty of food," Gray's voice added earnestly from behind her. Erza felt incredibly grateful towards Gray. He had no idea why she wanted Ezra to stay but was willing to go along with her charade in order to help her out.

"Food?" Maw began to drool again.

"Round food? _Cookies_?" Nath started drooling almost as much as Maw.

"Too many cookies," Gray promised.

"ALL RIGHT!" the two decreed in unison.

Ezra flashed his brilliant smile again. "Great! Sorry, Fenra, Kamarr, but it looks like you got outvoted."

Fenra simply slumped her shoulders and sighed, while Kamarr began mumbling something about water returning from the river to the ocean.

Erza nervously presented her best smile. "Wonderful! Gray and I will lead the way."

**Hope you enjoyed! Remember to PLEASE review! I am trying to become a better writer and every bit of feedback helps. Let me know why you did or didn't like my story. Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you have a nice day.**


	7. The Deal

**AN: Looks like it's time for another update! I hope you guys like it!**

**Notice: I don't own Fairy Tail. Its characters, settings etc. all belong to Hiro Mashima. However, this fic does contain numerous OC's of my own design. These, and these alone, are mine.**

Chapter 7: The Deal

The Hydra Claw members certainly fit right in at Fairy Tail. No layman watching the scene would have any idea that they were from a different guild entirely. Gray kept his promise and had Mirajane whip up a huge batch of cookies, which were made the subject of a massive eating contest between Maw, Nath, Natsu and Happy (who only agreed because the cookies had little fish designs glazed on them). When that was finished, Nath started drinking with Cana and discussing how amazingly round cups and barrels were, while Elfman and Maw struck up a conversation about how manly eating things was. Kamarr and Freed were heatedly debating the meaning of a cryptic metaphor. The only one who didn't seem to be having fun was Fenra. She sat over in the doorway and absentmindedly stroked a silver wolf that seemed to have materialized out of nowhere. The rest of the guild was drinking, bickering, and laughing. Business as usual.

Erza sat at the bar, past the edge of the chaos, with Lucy and Sic. She and Lucy were in the middle of conversation with Mirajane, while Sic sat in silence and stared at the wall. Erza had never been sure what to think of the guy. He always acted strangely and seemed to disregard the feelings of others, but Lucy had told Erza about Sic's past; how Jellal, his _younger brother_, had been taken to the Tower of Heaven, and how Sic had almost been killed by his older brother. With such a horrible past and a relation to Jellal, it was hard for Erza to dislike the guy.

A man emerged from the crowd and made his way over to the bar. It was none other than the Steel Whirlwind himself, Ezra Mathin.

"Why, hello, my lovely ladies," he greeted cordially as he stepped next to their conversation. He knelt, and chivalrously kissed the hand of Lucy, Mirajane, and Erza in that order. Erza noted that Mirajane gulped and flushed bright red when Ezra kissed her hand.

Ezra then turned his attention to the white-haired boy sitting next to Lucy, who was still facing the wall. "Hello there," he said as he offered his hand to shake. "Ezra Mathin, of the Hydra Claw guild, at your service. Who might you be?"

"You may stop pretending to be interested in me now," Sic replied without turning around.

Ezra reared his head back into a long-winded, good-natured laugh. "Very well, I will do as you wish. May I?" He settled himself into the seat next to Erza.

"M-may I get you anything, E-Ezra, sir?" Mirajane squeaked.

"No, no, that's quite alright, you needn't trouble yourself. I've got myself covered," Ezra assured her as he conjured a martini using his requip magic. Erza was impressed at the speed and ease with which he did it.

After about ten minutes of small talk, Ezra surprised her again. "Say, Erza, I just remembered! There was something I wanted to discuss with you… _outside._" He winked on the last word.

Erza was so shocked at his sudden request that she didn't even speak in reply- she just nodded. As she and Ezra made their way out the door, Erza glanced back over her shoulder just in time to see Mirajane faint and fall over backwards.

Once she had followed Ezra out to the corner of the guildhall, Ezra turned around and met her eyes with a knowing look. His eyes were golden-brown with flecks of green. They were striking, Erza noticed. She immediately shook that thought out of her head.

"So," Ezra began with a sly smile. Gah, that smile was so _distracting_. Erza forced herself to pay attention to every one of his words. She _really_ needed to resist his charm, since it appeared nobody else was able to. "While I have no doubt that you are an extremely kind-hearted individual, my dear, I can't help but wonder if there's some _other_ motive for you to invite my guildmates and me into your guildhall. Now, don't get me wrong, you and your guildmates are nothing if not sociable, but-"

"Stop," Erza cut him off. "You're right. I'm sorry. I should've been more up-front about it…" She took a deep breath and bowed. "As you may know, I am a requip wizard just like you. I've heard rumors about your secret requip technique, and I really would like to learn it myself. Please, teach it to me. I only wish to be more able to protect those I love."

Ezra grinned. "The ones you love, eh?" He winked again. "That's all it was about? You should've told me sooner!"

Erza perked up. "You mean you'll teach me?"

Ezra grinned even wider. "On one condition," he said. "We'll have a duel. Tomorrow, at sunset. You spar with me, requip mage on requip mage. If you win, I'll teach you. If I win…"

Erza tapped her foot impatiently. "If you win, what?"

He winked again, and Erza's heart fluttered. Gah! "If I win, you'll have to go on a date with me."

From the shadows around the corner, Gray cursed to himself and clenched his fists.

**Thanks again for reading! Hope you enjoyed, and any reviews are appreciated! Hope you have a nice day.**


	8. The Duel

**AN: Hey, it's chapter 8! I just wanted to thank everyone who's read my story so far. I hope it brightened your day just a little bit, and if not, I would love to know why! That's what reviews are for, right?**

**Notice: I don't own Fairy Tail. Its characters, settings, etc. all belong to Hiro Mashima. HOWEVER, this fic does contain multiple OC's. These, and these alone, are mine.**

**With that out of the way, hope you guys like this extra-long chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 8: The Duel

Sic glared in defiance at the hulking man beating his chest in front of him and Lucy. This was a strange man to be a bank robber. He had barged in just as their job to guard the bank for a night was about to end. He was in the middle of a fantastic story, too! This was unacceptable. This brute needed to be taught a lesson, which shouldn't be too difficult since evidently he was just a large man with large muscles.

His attention moved to Lucy beside him, who made a slicing motion in the air with a key from her belt. Before them appeared an axe-wielding cow-man equally large as their opponent, whom Lucy referred to as "Taurness." Strange name, that. To Sic's bemusement, however, the cow-man seemed to do nothing but stare at Lucy Heartfilia and compliment her body. Sic would never understand Lucy's magic.

As the bull-man continued to babble like a buffoon, Sic felt a burning sensation growing in his chest. It was incredibly strange. It was like his heart, for some reason, wanted to _throttle_ the blabbering bovine. He pushed those thoughts out of his brain for now and reminded himself to take his temperature when he got back home.

"Don't worry, Lucy. I'll deal with this. This fool can't help you," Sic promised.

Before she could respond, he drew his twin broadswords and ran at the large robber. The galoot snarled and brought his fist down to crush Sic's skull. At the last second, Sic dodged to the side, then rebounded and launched himself straight towards the man. While the man was off-balance, Sic positioned his swords parallel to each other, and then slashed at the man's chest by turning his body. He made four complete 360-degree turns, meaning each of his blades struck five times. The man collapsed, defeated and screaming, with ten gaping slash wounds crisscrossing his chest. But there was no time for Sic to admire his handiwork. He planted his shoe on the man's face, pushed down, and pointed his sword at the man's chest. "Get out of here," he hissed. "Or do I need to take off your arms?" The man screamed and began crawling down the street, leaving a trail of blood.

Sic turned around and smirked at Lucy. The expression she wore on her face was strange. She was staring at him with wide, unblinking eyes and her mouth hanging open. Come to think of it, so was the blabbering bovine.

"What are you doing?" Sic asked Lucy. "Catching flies?"

Lucy's face returned to normal. "_Why_ did you do that? That was way overboard! All we needed to do was subdue him and turn him in to the police, not maim him and send him to go die in the streets!" This was strange. She was yelling at him. Why? He'd just completed their mission all by himself, so she wouldn't have to do any work.

"If he was handed over to the police, he'd be doing this again once he's released. He needs to learn that it is unacceptable to rob people's hard-earned savings. I was simply doing my job in keeping the bank safe. What is the problem with that?" Sic replied.

Lucy groaned exasperatedly and dismissed her useless bull-man companion. "That was the wrong way to do your job, then." She went into the other room, slammed the door and locked it.

Sic again felt a new sensation in his chest. For some strange reason, he wished he hadn't decisively defeated the robber in such a manner. Why? That's the simplest way to get the job done. Why did he doubt his own actions? He knew that he always made the choices that were the most logically correct. _What's wrong with me?_

For the rest of the night, Sic sat on the doorstep of the bank and contemplated Lucy's most recent words. How could he possibly have done something the _wrong_ way? Life wasn't a test. There couldn't possibly be any "right" or "wrong" answer to any situation, right? Why did everyone around him seem to have such strange views on the world?

* * *

Sic strolled leisurely through the woods at the edge of Magnolia, brooding. The Hydra Claw guild members had returned home, and the guild felt strangely quiet. With the lack of distractions, he'd had a lot of time to think about what Lucy told him on their mission last night. She'd refused to speak to him since then. Sic had never felt so confused. Perhaps she was testing him. If he could just figure out the riddle, then she'd let him talk to her again. Sic pulled his hair harder and quickened his pace. He _had_ to solve this riddle. Lucy was the only thing he understood around here. Or at least, he'd thought he did.

Suddenly he heard a twig snap up ahead. Sic stiffened. Careful not to make a sound, he peered around the tree. There was Grade Forebullster, who was apparently following someone else. He wasn't very skillful at it, but somehow whomever he was following seemed not to notice him. Sic decided that it interested him enough and began to stalk the stalker.

It didn't take long before Grade stopped and climbed a tree overlooking a clearing just up ahead. Not wishing to be seen, Sic found a little area nestled in between two branches that gave him a good view of the clearing and also shielded him from Grade's sight.

On opposite sides of the clearing, two mages faced each other. Nearest Sic was the one known as Minerva Scradlett, clad in her usual skirt and armored breastplate. On the opposite side was the flirtatious man who had pretended to be interested in him yesterday. Sic had never really looked at him, but his face looked rather… familiar. He grinned confidently and spoke. "You remember the terms, right, Erza?"

"All too well," she replied.

Erza hoped she knew what she'd gotten into. The power radiating off of Ezra doubled in intensity when he swept off his brown cloak. "If you want to back out, now's the time," he boasted.

"You know I'd never do that," Erza said with a dry smile.

Ezra didn't reply. Instead he summoned a pair of twin katana almost instantaneously and sprang at her, poised to strike. Erza only had time to parry to her right flank with the one sword she was already holding. The parry blocked one of Ezra's swords, but the other one found its mark, leaving a gash in her breastplate near her neck. Without missing a sixteenth of a beat, he dropped into a crouch, requipped his fists into a pair of spiked gauntlets, and then sprang up with a nasty right hook to the underside of Erza's chin. Erza was sent flying onto her back.

She blinked up at the sky with dizzy vision. She had to hand it to the guy; because he wore no armor, his agility and speed were that much better. His requipping speed surpassed even her own. How could she possibly defeat someone so powerful? _Stop it. Your armor will protect you. It always has and always will._

She blinked again, and there he was, descending on her with a huge axe in his hands. Erza took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, she saw the familiar inside of her twin adamantine shields. Thank the powers that be for her reflexes. She shoved upward with her shields, and heard a satisfying _thunk_ and a muffled cry of pain.

Erza climbed to her feet and saw Ezra doing the same about ten feet away. He now had two black eyes. Somehow, they just made him even more handsome.

"Not bad, my dear," he called playfully. "I underestimated you."

Erza laughed, requipping into her Flame Empress armor. "It's been a while since anybody's done that."

They launched themselves at each other again, becoming a veritable cyclone of steel whirling around their makeshift arena. Their movements were so well choreographed, it was as if the fight had been scripted a thousand times. Every strike was met with a perfect parry and counterstrike. Ezra would switch between weapons so fast, he'd begin an attack with one weapon and land with another. Erza constantly shifted between various suits of armor in an attempt to throw him off balance.

If it was at all possible to swordfight flirtatiously, Ezra was doing it. He would make parries to the high outside line that allowed him to briefly step inside Erza's guard, in such a way that his hand would brush various parts of her body ever so briefly. It was incredibly distracting. Erza couldn't believe there was someone who could match her so well in the way of the sword. Ezra _understood_ the way of the requip wizard. She felt as if she could have fought him forever in complete bliss.

They struck up a conversation of sorts between the swordplay. "You're not going to take out any dark guilds with shoddy swordsmanship like that," Ezra teased.

"Defeating dark guilds isn't why I fight," Erza replied. "I fight for the people I love. I fight for Fairy Tail. It's what I live for. Fairy Tail is my home, my life, and my family."

Ezra's eyes widened. He backed up from their duel with a thoughtful expression on his face. "What you said… It's exactly how I feel about Hydra Claw. I would gladly give my life for my guild."

There was a minute of silence before Ezra spoke again. "I was initially planning on defeating you without it, but you deserve to see. As a reward for your compassion, I'll defeat you using my secret technique."

Back up in the trees, Sic was in a state of shock. His vocabulary was vast, but he had no idea what the word _compassion_ meant. What was it? Was it the answer to Lucy's riddle? Why did that word seem so familiar?

Back on the forest floor, Erza requipped into her Purgatory Armor and braced herself. "Bring it on."

Ezra grinned and ripped his shirt off. He took a solid stance, threw his arms out to his sides and let out a primordial roar.

Ezra's body began to change. Out of each side of his forearm grew a wicked, razor-sharp blade that ran parallel to his arm. His hands themselves became the pointed tips of swords. Sword blades erupted from his chest, stomach, and back, facing all directions. His lower legs became sword blades that embedded themselves in the ground. Even his pointed spike of hair transformed into a horn. He had transformed himself into a sort of steel porcupine.

"This is my secret skill," Ezra boasted. "I requip parts of my body into weapons."

And with that, he launched himself at her.

If Erza had thought Ezra was difficult to fend off before, it was practically impossible now. Blades were everywhere, all around her. He struck with every one of them- his hands, both sides of each his arms, the ones coming out of his abdomen, his legs. Erza could see why people called him the Steel Whirlwind.

She had to figure out a way to end this, and fast. Her Purgatory Armor couldn't take much more of this. She waited for an opening, then slashed her way out of the whirlwind of steel. Without missing a beat, she sprang into the air and prepared to land the finishing blow with her mighty black mace.

But it was not to be. Ezra turned around and formed his arms into a loop above his head. They morphed and formed a large, round shield, which easily deflected Erza's attack. He then pulled apart the shield and slammed his arms together in front of him, which formed a huge double-bladed axe. Erza was still in midair, directly after an attack. She desperately requipped into her Adamantine Armor.

SLICE.

Erza was knocked to the ground. She stared in horror at her twin adamantine shields, pierced straight across by Ezra's incredibly strong blade. Erza looked down at her own armor, which was pierced as well. The axe had left a tiny cut that was barely bleeding at all. Erza shuddered to think of what could have happened if she'd not requipped when she did.

Ezra pointed his sword-hand at her throat. "I win."

Erza smiled. It wasn't meant to be. He was simply too strong. "Yes. Well-fought, Ezra."

He smiled and his body-requips disappeared, leaving his hand just an outstretched hand waiting to help her up.

"So," he said slyly. "Meet me tomorrow at the Hargeon wharf at eight." He winked.

Erza blushed. She couldn't help it. "It's a date," she replied.

* * *

Gray gripped the tree branch he was holding so hard that it snapped. He couldn't let this happen. That jerk didn't care about Erza at all. He was just using her like he probably did all other girls. Gray knew he couldn't let Erza go on a date with him. Because Gray cared about Erza… So much so that… Yes. He could admit it to himself. He loved her. He wanted to be able to protect her, just as she had sworn to always do for her guildmates. He knew what he had to do. He would go down there, and he would challenge Ezra for the date with Erza. He would show her that he was willing to do whatever it took to protect her. He stood up and jumped out into the clearing. Or rather, he thought he was going to. His knees buckled, and he began shaking uncontrollably. _What's happening to me,_ he thought. _Is this… fear?_

Gray couldn't get up. All he could do was watch Ezra help Erza limp back to the guild. Gray hung his head in shame and began to cry, his tears freezing when they touched his face. _I'm weak,_ he thought. _I couldn't protect Erza when she needed me. I don't deserve someone like her._ And so he collapsed completely and cried in silence as the sun finished setting. When he fell out of the tree, he just lay there on the ground, crying silently into the dead leaves.

Sic's mind was so clouded that he barely registered Grade fall out of the tree. Why the hell didn't the black-haired man finish the job? He'd fought so hard, then finally won the battle, and had the power to make sure Minerva couldn't threaten him again. But instead he simply helped Minerva up and escorted her home. Why? Was it because of that compassion word? What did it mean?

Sic knew there was only one person who could teach him.

Lucy was happy to finally spend some time with Natsu and Happy after a long while. After spending so much time with Sic, it was a little refreshing to be able to talk to someone who could really have some fun. She didn't even mind that Natsu was trashing her apartment. Even so, she couldn't help but miss Sic a little bit. Even though he'd done something disturbing back at the bank, she couldn't help but wonder…

There was a knock on her door. "Coming," she yelled. She opened the door to find the same person she'd been thinking about kneeled on the doorstep, staring at the floor. Uh-oh. "Natsu, you and Happy better go."

"Aw, but Luce-"

"GET OUT!"

"Okay, okay, sheesh. C'mon, Happy."

"Aye…"

After Natsu was gone, Lucy turned her attention to Sic. "Hi, Sic," she said uneasily. "What's up?"

And then Sic did something she didn't think was possible. He lowered his head and began to cry.

"Please, Lucy," Sic said through muffled sobs. "You have… to teach me. Teach me… teach me the meaning of… compassion."

* * *

**What did you think? Hope you guys liked it, and see you all next time! Please don't forget to review, and hope you all have a nice day!**


	9. The Date

**AN: Hey, guys! I thought I'd update a little early today, since it's the weekend! I hope you guys like this chapter, because it was my favorite one to write! PLEASE rate and review, because it helps me be a better writer, and quite honestly it makes me feel good. Just throwing that out there. If you read the whole thing, I would really appreciate it if you let me know what you liked and didn't like so I can make it better! Hope you guys enjoy!**

**Notice: I don't own Fairy Tail. Its characters, settings, etc. all belong to Hiro Mashima. However, this fic contains multiple OC's. These, and these alone, are mine.**

**Make sure you read all the way to the end! ;)**

* * *

Chapter 9: The Date

It was eight-o-clock, and the sun was just beginning to set over the sea. Erza was worried about what was taking Ezra so long. It didn't seem like him to be late.

She felt so nervous about this whole thing, which was strange. Why should she care too much about this date? It was just for Ezra's pleasure, as his reward for winning the duel. It wasn't like this would _lead_ to anything, would it…?

Her cheeks reddened.

_Oh, stop it, Erza,_ she scolded herself. _You're Titania, the Fairy Queen. You are strong. You will not give in to this boy._

Even as she thought this, Erza remembered how much effort she'd put into getting ready for the date. She'd tried every single one of ALL her requip outfits before settling on her trademark purple dress with a slit cut on the right leg. It was a proven favorite.

A hand on her shoulder from behind interrupted her train of thought. Instinctively she turned around and punched her assailant as hard as she could right in the face.

"Ouch! Jeez, Erza, is that how you greet me now?" a cheeky voice questioned from behind her fist.

Erza did a double take. "Ezra?"

Ezra gently pushed her hand off of his face and grinned. "The one and only."

Erza noticed how little effort Ezra had put in before getting ready. He wore the same brown cloak over black undershirt and black jeans. His hair was still teased into the same spike. That was strange. You'd think such a chivalrous guy as Ezra would be polite enough to dress nicely for a date.

He knelt and kissed her hand. When he stood up again, he finally seemed to notice her dress. His mouth fell open in shock. "Whoa," was all he said.

Erza smirked. This really wasn't like him at all. Since when did Ezra speak one-word sentences?

"Sorry I'm late," he apologized. "I ran here all the way from the guild." Ah. Perhaps that explained his lack of proper dress.

Suddenly he said, as if reading her thoughts, "I'm sorry about my attire."

Erza was naturally surprised. "What? Why?"

Ezra smiled sadly. "I knew you'd expect me to wear something fancier, but I can't. These clothes belonged to my father. They're all I have left of him. I hope you understand."

Erza's breath caught in her throat. She didn't know what to say. It reminded her of Natsu's scarf. But she couldn't imagine the great Ezra Mathin could conceivably show weakness. Was there possibly another side to him?

Ezra's face perked up. "Ah, what am I doing? I shouldn't be troubling you like this." He took her hand and led her down the wharf. "Shall we?"

Erza had to hand it to the guy; he really knew how to plan out a date. He began by leading her down the wharf to all the various tourist attractions. They chatted about random, simple things, and saw talented street performers and fire breathers. Ezra took her to a quiet jewelry shop, where he bought her a beautiful necklace lined with pearls from the ocean, and crowned at the bottom with a simple, well-shined, gleaming red ruby that matched Erza's crimson hair. Finally, Ezra led her to a little apartment building on the corner of the street. He sat her down at a table inside an apartment and tied a blindfold around her head.

"This is my buddy's apartment, he's letting us borrow it tonight," Ezra's voice spoke. "Now, I'll be right back. Wait here. And NO peeking!"

She heard him go into another room, and then came some sounds of bustling and bumbling. Erza definitely had to admit she didn't expect her date with Ezra to be this pleasant. She'd honestly expected him to just take her out to some fancy restaurant, and then take her to some hotel where he would try to get her clothes off. But she was actually quite enjoying just wandering around town with him and spending friendly time. Ezra really was a much more complicated guy than she'd made him out to be.

She heard his footsteps coming back into the dining room. Something heavy hit the table with an audible _thunk_.

"Okay," came Ezra's voice. "You can take the blindfold off now."

Erza obliged, and could not believe what she saw.

Sitting on the table right in front of her was the biggest strawberry cake she had ever seen.

Erza was at a complete and total loss for words. She opened her mouth, but couldn't close it because it was too stuffed with the cake's heavenly aroma.

"So? You like?" Ezra teased with his characteristic grin.

Erza finally snapped out of her trance. "I love it! But how did you…"

Ezra shrugged. "Oh, your friend Mirajane told me you loved cake."

Erza felt a small twinge of guilt. Poor Mira. An image formed in her mind of Mira stammering as she gave Ezra the information he needed to woo another woman. Erza would've been guilty, but with the massive amount of cake in such close proximity, it was hard to feel anything but giddy.

Ezra sat down, picked up a large fork and requipped into a long cutting knife. "Race you to the middle," he laughed.

Erza couldn't hold herself back anymore. She and Ezra launched themselves ferociously at the cake, carving their way through it at speeds no one would dare to drive on a highway. It was the most delicious cake she had ever tasted: warm, spongy, filled with pockets of vanilla cream and strawberries. Although Ezra was a fast eater, he was no match for Erza when it came to cake. She reached the middle before he did and started eating some of the cake on his side.

"Hey, no fair! That's mine!" Ezra protested, but Erza could tell he didn't really mind, so she kept on eating his share of the cake. She just kept eating and eating and eating until it was all gone. She was just scooping up some crumbs when her fork hit something hard. Puzzled, she pulled out the object, which was a red box covered in velvet.

"Open it," Ezra encouraged.

Obliging, Erza opened the box, wondering giddily for a brief moment if it was an engagement ring. Instead, it was a small chocolate. Confused, she looked to Ezra, who nodded, as if encouraging her to eat it. Erza popped the chocolate in her mouth. It was quite good, a savory sweet flavor so characteristic of dark chocolate. She was just about to swallow it when she felt it abruptly disappear from her mouth.

"Now, calm down, Erza," Ezra stopped her before she could take out her rage on whatever had stolen her chocolate. "That chocolate's enchanted. Before you can swallow it, it'll disappear and reappear somewhere else in the apartment. You gotta eat it a certain number of times before you can swallow it. Think of it like a little scavenger hunt. It'll be fun."

Erza fixed him with her deathly Erza Stare, wordlessly assuring him that no, it wouldn't be fun. Erza was going to make him pay for his insolence, but first she had to enjoy her chocolate. She went into the living room, and found the chocolate on the couch. Sure enough, it disappeared again when she tried to swallow it. She kept chasing the chocolate around the apartment, spurred on by words of encouragement from Ezra in the dining room. Finally, after having eaten the chocolate almost twenty times, she was unable to find it any longer, which was infuriating since she hadn't even gotten to swallow it.

She whipped herself back into the dining room to give Ezra a piece of her mind, and then stopped. She'd found the chocolate.

Ezra sat in the same seat with his eyes closed, and the chocolate clenched lightly between his front teeth.

Erza stood there for a few minutes, flabbergasted. She couldn't believe Ezra had the nerve to try this on _her_. There was no way she'd fall for such an obvious trick. She reached out multiple times with her hand to grab the chocolate, but Ezra batted it away each time without opening his eyes. Exasperated, Erza realized she was going to have to open herself up for him to kiss her if she wanted to finally eat that damned chocolate.

Oh well, she _had_ been expecting something like this from Ezra all night. She might as well bite the bullet. She opened her mouth and, leaning down towards Ezra, closed her mouth around the chocolate. Surprisingly, he didn't make one move to try and kiss her at all. That was weird. Pulling away, Erza chewed and _finally_ swallowed the chocolate while she stared at Ezra thoughtfully. Why _didn't_ he kiss her? If he wanted to, there was nothing she could've done about it.

Ezra opened his eyes. "There. Do you trust me now?"

Erza started at his words. "What? What do you mean?"

A smile tugged at the corner of Ezra's lips. "You thought I was going to seduce you." Not a question. Just a fact.

Erza opened her mouth, and then closed it again.

"It's okay," Ezra spoke. "People always assume that about me. In fact, most of the time they're right. But I don't need that with you."

Erza found her voice again. "W-why is that, Ezra?"

"I really enjoyed just… spending time with you," he explained. "It's nice to spend time with…" he looked down and his voice cracked. "Someone who isn't scared of me," he finished hoarsely.

Erza didn't know what to say. Looking down at the boy, she didn't see him as Ezra Mathin, the Steel Whirlwind, the legendary Wizard Saint. Nor did she see him as some crying child in need of comforting. Where he once sat, she saw simply a hole. Inside that hole was a void. It had been empty for a very, very long time.

Maybe she could help him fill it.

She grasped his chin, and gently brought it up to face her. She leaned in, leaving only inches between her face and Ezra's.

"Maybe it isn't you that needs it. Maybe it's me," she whispered. "Could you save me?"

Ezra's eyes seemed to see straight through her face. "My brother… I killed…"

"Shhhh," she whispered. She took Ezra and helped/forced him to lie down, and put his head on her lap, stroking his hair and face. Ezra was now mumbling incoherently. In his eyes was the look of a caged animal. Erza knew he wasn't mentally _there_ anymore. He was lost in a world of memories, his consciousness drowning in a sea of reminiscences. In that moment, Erza knew that he was just like her: he acted incredibly strong on the outside to keep his past from eating him alive.

She knew in that moment that she loved him.

In that same moment of realization, she swooped down and pressed her lips to Ezra's. At first he didn't return the kiss, but she could tell that he was warming up again, that his spirit was coming back.

And then he was fully back, and he was returning the kiss, and he was pushing back at her with all his might, and that night, Erza felt a spark. She just kept pushing at him, seeing how much he could take. She wanted to see how far he would go so she could heal him. She wanted to see how much Ezra had to give. She wanted more.

That night, Erza Scarlet and Ezra Mathin slept together.

If it was possible to smirk while kissing, Ezra was doing it.

His acting was perhaps even better than his swordfighting.

* * *

**Oh, Ezra! That really wasn't nice of you :P hehe. Please don't forget to review. Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you have a nice day!**


	10. No Reason

AN: Hey guys! Sorry I'm updating late, school's starting to rev back up again, and I've reached the end of my backlog of finished chapters, so I'll probably start updating about twice a week now.** Anyhoo, thanks so much for reading. I hope you've enjoyed reading my story. If you liked it (or frankly, if you didn't) please leave a review explaining what you liked and didn't like. It helps me get better as a writer, and I also will check out your stuff as well. Thanks again for reading!**

**Notice: I don't own Fairy Tail. Its characters, settings, etc. belong to Hiro Mashima. However, this fic does contain numerous OC's. These, and these alone, are mine.**

Chapter 10: No Reason

Sic paused nervously in front of the door to Lucy's apartment. It had been a couple days since he had his weird breakdown in front of her. Lucy had told him that she would think about it and she wanted to wait a while before they started. Sic desperately hoped she wouldn't change her mind. He really needed to understand compassion to make his way through life here, it seemed. He still didn't understand why liquid had all of a sudden started coming out of his eyes, why this heavy weight settled in his chest whenever he talked to Lucy, why he wanted to throttle any other males who talked to her. He was hopeless without her.

He braced himself and knocked on the door. It opened almost instantaneously, but instead of Lucy standing there to greet him, there was the pink-haired one named Nasty Draggle. The dragonslayer dragged him inside the apartment. To Sic's surprise, practically everyone in the guild seemed to be there. All except one: where was Lucy?

Answering his unspoken question was Minerva Scradlett. "Hello, Sic," she smiled at him. "Lucy told us about your… predicament and asked us all to help you."

Sic felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. _She didn't want to teach me herself?_ _She'd rather delegate me to these fools?_

"After each of us has finished with our individual lessons about different emotions, Lucy will talk to you, and give you a wrap-up for everything," Minerva continued.

Sic's stomach returned to normal. At least she did want to help him a little bit.

"So," Erza continued. "My lesson will be first." She took Sic into another room, which appeared to have been enchanted to block out sound from the partying guild members in the main room. At the front were a large blackboard and several pieces of chalk, before which there was a small desk with pencils and paper.

"Now," Minerva continued, "You _will_ pay attention during my lecture. If you don't…" she rapped her own wrist with a ruler.

Sic nodded. This was definitely his style of learning. About an hour later, Sic exited the room with a hand free of bruises, feeling quite pleased with himself. If that was the hardest part of learning about compassion, then this would be a piece of cake. During the lecture he had learned that _emotions_ are sensations people fear that cause them to act irrationally, which explained so much about what he'd experienced since he'd arrived at the guild.

Unfortunately, the rest of his training was not quite that simple. His next teacher was none other than the idiot Nasty Draggle.

"So, Sic," the pink-haired dragonslayer said, "My job is to teach you about anger."

"Sure," Sic replied, bored. "Teach me, O wise one."

He didn't expect to feel something right away, but he did: a painful blow right to his stomach that sucked the breath right out his lungs and out his eyes, which bugged in pain. Gripping his stomach tightly, hacking and gasping for breath, Sic doubled over in pain, struggling to not fall on his face. "What… was that for?" he wheezed.

He heard Nasty's smug voice from above. "Aw, c'mon! Don't tell me you don't feel it!"

"Feel… what?"

"Your anger, of course! You should want to get me back for punching you right now, just like I did when you took away my lunch!"

Sic found Nasty's words strange. Sure, he was wondering why exactly Nasty had punched him in the gut, but he had no desire to "get back" at the guy.

Sic winced as Nasty began kicking him ferociously in the side. "C'mon, get angry!" Nasty yelled, frustrated.

Sic's vision got blurrier with each passing kick. No one in the other room could hear what was going on, or maybe they just didn't care. If it continued like this, Nasty might seriously hurt him. _Oh well_, Sic thought. Logically, there was no way to stop him. Sic was out of energy.

Then his back felt a little lighter. He saw Nasty holding both of his broadswords loosely in one hand. He was holding them up to a flame in his other hand. "Let's see how long they take to melt," the pyro cackled gleefully.

Sic's vision cleared. _Not the swords. No. They're my heirlooms. They're all I have left of my family._ He struggled to get up, but his body just didn't have the strength. _No. Please. Not the swords. No._ Looking up at his mementos being melted away, Sic's heart felt heavier than ever. _Not the swords, _he repeated to himself over and over.

Suddenly his vision turned the tiniest shade of red. This horrible boy, Nasty Draggle, was going to destroy the one thing he remembered his family by. He was going to obliterate his last vestige of humanity.

Sic didn't remember consciously doing it, but he pushed himself to his feet, and with one fluid movement, knocked the pyro clear off his feet and onto his back with a clean right hook to the chin.

Sic poured gallons of obscenities onto the boy, using every curse word he'd ever learned, enough curses to make the ears of any high-class kid shrivel. He could not express the extent to which he wanted to tear Nasty Draggle to shreds.

The pink-haired dragonslayer looked up and grinned at him. "That's the spirit! You got angry at me."

The emotion suddenly drained out of Sic. Wow. Nasty was right for once. He had learned to feel the emotion of anger. Was this what having emotions always felt like?

Sic realized the feeling was the same feeling he got when he saw another male talking to Lucy. So was he feeling anger towards them? Why was he angry with people for just talking to Lucy?

He asked this question of Nasty to clarify, but the pink-haired mage just scratched his head. "No, there's no reason why you should get angry there. That IS weird. Maybe you should see a doctor."

After taking a rest to recover his energy, Sic spent the rest of the day and the next couple days after that training with various members of the guild to learn emotions.

Some of these lessons were easier than others. Drinking with Cornna Elbowrona taught him that sadness was a cold feeling in your heart that you get when something "just doesn't sit right with you." While Sic didn't really get the non-academic description, he understood the feeling after a few barrels of this strange brew Cornna called "alcohol." It reminded him of the feeling he got when he thought about his old family.

Wendry Martel taught him about optimism, which was when you believe in the positive side of things. While Sic didn't really care for it, the concept was at least easy to grasp.

His lesson with Gulldratz Clove was much more interesting. Sic knew Gulldratz was the most powerful wizard in the guild. The elder wizard instructed Sic to attack him with everything he had. Sic was surprised by this strange request, but he did as he was told. Gulldratz easily deflected his swords' strikes, then cast a spell which destroyed the entire area surrounding them in the woods they were training. Gulldratz began to glow with a white aura, which gave off magic power unlike any Sic had ever felt before. Staring at Gulldratz's towering figure, Sic found it impossible to look away, however much he wanted to. He was in fact unable to move. He couldn't understand why. Gulldratz reined in his magic power after he saw the look in Sic's eyes. "What you just experienced is called fear," he said. "And it's an important part of anyone's humanity."

The rest of the lessons were a blur. Trust from Master Makarov. Kindness from Leeveye. Justice from Freed (even Sic couldn't mess his name up). Manliness from Elfman (most other people said it wasn't really an emotion, but Sic let Elfman teach him just in case). Humor from Gadjooks. There was a very short-lived lesson on something called "love" from a blue-haired girl who didn't tell Sic her name, she just went on for five minutes about Grade Forebullster going missing and then fainted. Perhaps "love" was just another word for insanity.

Sic's final lesson was taught by a cat. The blue cat had certainly seemed like the least sage-like figure in the entire guild. He always made ridiculous jokes that didn't make any sense and never talked about anything but fish. But people had decided that there was no one better to teach someone about happiness than someone for whom it was their namesake.

"So, 'Happy…'" Sic ventured after five minutes of silence while Happy was eating a fish. "What is happiness?"

"Happiness.." Happy said around a mouthful of fish. "Is what you feel when you're eating a fish?"

Sic felt incredibly frustrated with this stupid cat already. He was ready to try out his new "anger" tech on this cat and punch him straight through the roof.

"But," Sic said through gritted teeth, "I was told that happiness is the opposite of sadness. It's supposed to be a warm feeling inside your heart that makes you feel good. If that's true, then how do I get myself to feel it?"

Happy shrugged. "Simple. Just do things you like. I like fish."

Sic thought about what he really liked to do. He liked telling stories. He liked Lucy. He liked telling stories to Lucy.

Telling stories to Lucy…

"That's not an option right now," Sic interrupted his own thoughts out loud. "I have to experience happiness some other way."

Happy raised an eyebrow. "Okay, well, it's still pretty easy. All you have to do is choose to be happy, and you will be."

Sic's mouth dropped open. "Choose to…"

"Aye! Happiness isn't like most other emotions. You need a reason to be sad, but you don't need a reason to be happy!"

Sic stared in awe at the feline nibbling on his fish. In his own unique way, Happy might be the wisest one in the whole guild. Sic understood now. He tried being happy, letting the emotion _flow_ warmly through his veins like honey. It was a delicious sensation. Sic thanked the cat and headed hoe, since the sun was already starting to set.

Strolling home, Sic couldn't help but feel his body overcome with joy. What bliss it was, to be able to choose your own emotions! Sic had never felt so free since before his family was taken away. He could feel the shackles of the white prison slowly fading away along with his troubles.

Sic came within sight of his seaside cottage, and stopped.

Sitting on the edge of the cliff next to his cottage, her feet dangling over the edge, her blonde hair gleaming golden in the sun, was Lucy Heartfilia.

**What did you think? Let me know! Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you have a nice day!**


	11. How I Feel

**AN: Surprise! I know I said I was going to be updating less often, and that's still true, but I managed to crank this one out in a night, so... up it goes! I'd like to just give some quick thanks to libby[string of numbers] for all the awesome reviews and support, and to my sister, nightowl880, for reading my stuff beforehand and making sure it doesn't absolutely suck (seriously, go check her out, she's better than me). Anyway, as always, I hope you guys enjoy my first fanfic and I'm psyched to see people's reactions to this chapter!**

**Notice: I don't own any part of Fairy Tail. You know the drill, please don't sue me, Hiro Mashima. However, just letting you know, the fic contains OC's (if you haven't noticed) and THOSE are mine. But nothing else. Yeah.**

Chapter 11: How I Feel

Sic had never felt so nervous in his life. It was ridiculous, of course. It was just Lucy. At his house. Waiting for him…

She wanted to see him.

Sic's heart started beating incredibly fast.

_Maybe Nasty was right,_ he thought. _Maybe I should go see a doctor right away._

He shook his head, and then scolded himself. _You idiot, it's _Lucy._ You've wanted to talk to her for days now. Why the hell aren't you over there already?_ Sic tried to move his feet, but he wouldn't budge. Was he feeling _fear?_ But that was ridiculous- Gulldratz had said that you felt fear when your life was in danger. His life was most certainly not in danger at the moment. It was just Lucy.

It was just Lucy.

And him.

Alone.

Sic smacked himself on the forehead in frustration, trying to dispel these pesky thoughts. Unfortunately, he smacked harder than he'd intended, causing him to stumble backwards, where he tripped over a rock and fell straight onto his back. Cursing at the stinging pain from his fresh bleeding gash on the back of his head, he brushed the hair out of his eyes. He then heard a familiar voice: "Oh my god, Sic, are you okay?"

_Goddammit,_ Sic cursed himself. _Since when am I so clumsy? Now I have to explain to Lucy how I tripped and fell like an idiot._

Suddenly he felt a soothing sensation enveloping him. A familiar pair of arms wrapped around him, and lifted his upper body onto a warm surface- crossed legs, he thought. He blinked, and there was the same face he'd first woken up to after his time in the prison. Her smile was disarming. He wasn't able to move- not because he couldn't, but because subconsciously, nothing could make him want to. He felt her fingers stroking gently through his hair, massaging the stinging wound on his head. The combination of woozy pain and blissful ecstasy from her touch made it incredibly hard for Sic to keep his eyes open.

"Lucy…" he whispered weakly.

"Shhh," she whispered gently, placing a finger in front of his mouth to silence him. He felt her lean down towards his ear. "Don't worry, Sic. I promise I'll take you to the stars someday."

Sic closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Lucy watched the sun set from the window of Sic's makeshift cottage. He really had chosen the most beautiful view in all of Magnolia, and no matter how much he denied it, she knew that was why Sic had picked the spot. Oh, Sic. That's right. He could probably use some soup right about now. She ladled some soup from the pot she'd been cooking on the stove into a cup and took it over into his bedroom, but the sight of Sic sleeping gave her pause. She'd never really gotten a good look at Sic before with his eyes closed. While she loved his eyes, they were incredibly distracting. Lucy decided she'd take this opportunity to admire the rest of his face, and feed him the soup later.

She pulled up a chair to the bed and stared at Sic's serene face. Since he'd broken down in front of her a couple days ago, she'd been unable to think about anyone else. She'd had Natsu tell everyone at the guild she wouldn't be there for the next couple days. She stayed at home, worked on her novel, and thought about what Sic had said.

Part of her felt like she should still be angry, or scared of Sic for what he'd done back at the bank. But she knew that wasn't fair. He was so scarred, an empty shell containing none of the things that defined a human. Or he had been, anyway. Lucy could tell just by looking at Sic that her fellow guildmates had changed him. In fact, even before Sic had acquired any emotion at all, he'd still been capable of incredible acts of kindness and companionship. Lucy had decided she needed to be a little more assertive when she interacted with him if she wanted to bring out his sweeter side.

Sic moaned a little in his sleep. Lucy started. Crap. She should probably give him some soup now. She propped his head up against the bed and gently ladled a spoonful into his open mouth. As Sic swallowed, his eyes began to flutter open.

"Hi, Sic," Lucy cooed. "Feeling better?"

Upon hearing her voice, Sic's eyes opened all the way and he sat up instantly, banging his bandaged head on the bedframe. Lucy couldn't help but giggle as he winced in pain. He was just so cute sometimes.

"Watch your head, dummy. More soup?" Sic didn't speak, just held out his hand for the cup. Lucy didn't oblige him. She held out another spoonful toward his mouth. "Say 'aaah,'" she giggled again. Sic rolled his eyes, but he obviously wanted more soup, because he grudgingly opened his mouth. Lucy fed him another spoonful. This went on until he'd eaten the whole cup.

"Feeling better now?" Lucy smiled at him. Sic glanced at her, then looked down without saying anything. That was weird. Lucy wondered what the hell was going through that boy's head right now. She shrugged and turned around to go put the cup back in the kitchen.

Just as she was passing through the doorway, she heard Sic's voice behind her. "Lucy."

She turned around and smiled at Sic, who was getting up and sitting on the side of the bed. "Yes?"

Sic looked up at her, and then down again. "Thanks… for everything. For being with me. And… for the soup. It was good."

Lucy laughed. "Of course, silly! I'll always be here for you. You'd do the same for me, wouldn't you?"

Sic looked up again and gave her a rare treat- a smile. "Yeah. Yeah, I suppose I would. I'd do anything to take care of you."

When Lucy came back into the bedroom after dropping the cup off in the kitchen, Sic cleared his throat. "I… I think I'm ready to learn now."

Wow. Lucy had completely forgotten why she was here. "It's okay, Sic. I think you already know. Don't you remember? You just said what compassion really means!"

The expression on Sic's face right then was absolutely priceless. Lucy would've given one of her gate keys to have that expression captured in a picture. He just looked so bewildered, so utterly uncomprehending. "But… but… I-I don't…" he stammered.

Once again, Lucy began giggling uncontrollably and sat down next to Sic on the bed. "Come on, Sic, you said you'd do anything to take care of me! That means you have compassion for me! Simple as that!"

Sic just stared into her eyes with a look of wonder. "So… that means-"

"Congratulations, you're human!" Lucy exclaimed and threw her arms around the bewildered boy. He looked incredibly uncomfortable right about now.

"I-I'm sorry, but.." Sic protested, slightly scooching away from her. "I still don't understand it. Could you please clarify a little further?"

Lucy sighed in annoyance. He really needed to get a clue. She impatiently began swinging her feet back and forth, which were dangling off the side of the bed. "Tell me a story, will you?"

"Uh…"

"Never mind," she commanded. She threw one arm around his shoulder, turned his head to face her, and poked him three times on the nose. "_I'll_ tell _you_ a story."

She took a deep breath and began, making up the story as she went. "See, once upon a time there was this guy, named, uh… Bo. Yeah. So, anyway, Bo was a simple peasant in a small village, but he only had eyes for this girl in the royal family, and she was too old for him- oh wait, no, too rich, sorry… anyway, when Bob-"

"Stop."

Lucy's mouth stayed frozen in the same position it had been in since she was interrupted. Sic seemed like he was about to burst out laughing. While ordinarily that would be a good thing, right now it was just plain insulting.

"What? As I was saying, when Bob saw-"

"Stop," Sic interrupted again, grinning madly. God, how good he looked when he was smiling like that! "You said his name was Bo, not Bob. Man, you're the worst storyteller ever, Lucy."

Lucy's face turned red out of a mix of embarrassment and anger. "Oh, yeah? I'd like to see YOU do a better job!"

Well, he sure did. Sic continued with her story, expanding it to a point where Bo was a master ventriloquist who saved the world from conquest by an evil army, by pretending to emanate the voice of a god from the greatest tree in the kingdom. The story took several hours to complete; by the time it was gone, it must have been one in the morning.

Lucy and Sic sat in satisfied silence for a couple minutes, just enjoying one another's presence. Then Sic said something Lucy had no way of expecting: "What did you mean when you said Bo 'only had eyes for' someone?"

Of course! Sic had never learned about various terms people used to avoid saying the L-word all the time. "It just means that he loved her," Lucy explained.

Sic cocked his head quizzically to one side. "Are you saying… Bo is insane?"

Lucy couldn't believe her ears. _Don't tell me no one taught him about love,_ she thought. "I thought Juvia taught you about love."

"I thought she did too," Sic replied.

Lucy sighed. "She obviously didn't. Love doesn't just mean insanity."

"Well, what does it mean, then?" Sic inquired. "Surely you won't mind telling me?"

Lucy had to think long and hard about how best to explain it to Sic. She was tempted to say, _It's how I feel about you_ just to see how he would react. That was ridiculous, of course. I mean, it wasn't like she actually… No, she had to keep her train of thought from getting derailed.

"Love is…." She attempted to articulate. "It's really hard to explain. It's like you feel so much better when you're with a certain someone. You feel angry at people who take time away from you and them. You feel sad when you're without them. You feel like you would do anything for them. They're the one person you'd want to spend your whole life with. Does that make sense to you?"

The expression on Sic's face was one of shock. "You… just described how I feel about you."

If Lucy's brain had wires, it would've definitely short-circuited. She didn't know what to say, what to do, or what to feel. All she could do was look at what she was most comfortable with. Sic's eyes seemed especially deep tonight, the voids in his corneas inviting her to some kind of spiritual realm. As Lucy kept staring deeper and deeper, she felt her inhibitions slowly slipping away.

The last candle in the house went out. With both hands, she grasped either side of his face, and gently leaned in, her lips parting for a-

Suddenly, Sic's body began to glow a bright white. He began to levitate upwards. The white light expanded into a cube surrounding him. Lucy screamed his name and reached a hand up to try and pull him down, but as soon as her hand touched the light, the most searing pain imaginable spread up her arm and she was forced to retract it. She could hear Sic screaming her name from inside the cube, but his voice was getting fainter. His eyes glazed over, and his screams died down. Lucy didn't know how she knew, but this must have been the same "white prison" Sic had told her about. She had to save him. She couldn't allow him to be separated from the world again.

She braced herself and plunged her hand into the light once again. Ignoring the unbelievable pain, she forced her hand closer and closer to Sic's leg. Four inches apart… three…

_Stop,_ a deep voice said in her head. _He is not yours to keep._

"What? Leave him alone, he means everything to me! You can't just take him away!" Lucy yelled back.

_He has learned all he needs to learn from you,_ the voice replied. _His destiny lies elsewhere._

"No! He's staying here with me! I'm never going to let you do this to him again!" Lucy yelled, and finally made contact with Sic's leg.

As soon as Sic came into contact with something outside the prison, the prison's power rapidly began to fade. He fell and collapsed onto the bed, breathing heavily as the life returned to his eyes.

_You have made a grave mistake,_ the voice reproached. _The fate of the world rests on his shoulders, and now it is your burden as well._

"I'd do anything as long as it's with him," Lucy growled back.

There was no reply. All traces of the light and the voice had gone.

"Lucy," Sic wheezed. "Thanks for saving me. I could never go back in there again."

Lucy smoothed back his hair and lay on her stomach, her face a few inches away from Sic's. "I know. No need to thank me. I could never bear for you to go back there again either. Because I love you."

Sic's voice barely escaped his lips. "I… suppose I love you, too."

Lucy's face swooped in once again towards Sic's, and this time, there was no white prison to get in the way of their kiss. It was a long kiss, no tongue or anything, and Lucy could tell Sic didn't know what the hell he was doing, but it was okay, because honestly, she didn't really either. It was all they had the energy for, really.

Shortly after, Lucy nuzzled her face into Sic's chest, and they both drifted off to sleep in their mutual embrace.

**So? What did you think? I'm dying to know what people think of this chapter, because I think romantic scenes are definitely my weakest point. If you read all the way through my story, thanks so much! PLEASE review and let me know what you liked and didn't like about the story so I can improve! Yeah. Thanks a bunch. Y'all are the best. Hope you have a nice day!**


	12. The Paladin of Light

**AN: Hey everybody! Here's another update. Sorry this thing took so long. As always, please review, let me know what you think of my story, and of course, THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING.**

**Notice: I don't own Fairy Tail. Its characters, settings etc. all belong to Hiro Mashima. However, this fic has Oc's in it. These, and these alone, are mine.**

Chapter 12: The Paladin of Light

Sic had never been happier. Now, that wasn't exactly saying much, since he hadn't learned how to be happy until very recently, but the statement was nevertheless true. Of course, he was still confused about what exactly happened last night and what he was feeling. Did he really love Lucy? How could he be sure he would always love Lucy? What did it even mean? Was he going to spend the rest of his life with her? A billion questions swirled in his mind, each vying for attention. Sic had no answers right now, so he decided to just focus on his surroundings and worry about that stuff later.

There he sat on the cliff overlooking the ocean next to his cottage, looking out over the sprawling sea and watching the sunrise. He felt as if he were truly appreciating this view for the first time. The first rays of sunlight glimmered on the water in the shapes of dancing waves. It was such a beautiful sight that Sic wondered how he had never noticed it before.

Of course, there was perhaps a more beautiful sight to the right. Sic turned his head and stared thoughtfully at Lucy, whose gaze still remained fixated on the horizon. He allowed his eyes to wander casually about her body before settling on her face. He noticed this was the first time he'd seen her with all her hair down, not put up in ribbons or anything. Sic wondered what she was thinking about right now. Wait. It looked like she was in pain.

"Are you okay?" Sic asked.

Lucy seemed startled, like she'd been lost in thought about something else. "No… no, I'm fine," she replied, grimacing. No, she wasn't. Sic noticed her eyes darting down to her right.

"What's down there?" Sic leaned over to see what was on her right. He gasped upon seeing Lucy's right hand.

Her hand was covered in burns. They were almost stark white, whiter than even her pale hand, but with a slight red tinge. They encircled Lucy's hand, to the point where you could barely even see Lucy's guild symbol anymore. That was incredibly sad- the symbol of Lucy's deepest bond with all her guild members was blocked off by marks of pain and anguish.

"What happened to your hand? How much does it hurt?"

Lucy looked down, avoiding Sic's eyes. "It happened when I reached into the white prison. The energy in there was so powerful that it burned me. I guess I'm lucky my hand's even still here."

Sic stared back down at the sea, which didn't seem so pretty anymore. Now the dancing waves were mocking him. So Lucy had been burned because of him. Because of him, she probably wouldn't be able to use her right hand at all anymore, and she would have to live the rest of her life with a painful mark of shame branded right over her mark of greatest pride.

Sic was still pretty bad at reading emotions, but he was sure that if anyone had done that to him, he'd hate them for the rest of his life.

"I'm so sorry. I don't know how I can ever repay you. You must hate me now," Sic murmured.

"What?" Lucy turned to him, astonished. "Why would I blame you? I chose to do it to save you, remember?" She took his hand with her good one. "Please, don't blame yourself."

Sic lowered his head and felt liquid start coming out of his eyes again. What had Erza called this? _Crying. A mark of sadness or shame._ The salty liquid streamed nonstop out his eyes and down his face, and Sic felt his shoulders being racked with uncontrollable sobs. "Why?" he gasped. "You _should_ hate me. I did irreparable harm to you." He felt Lucy's arms wrapping around his shoulders, heard her voice whispering in his ear, attempting to soothe him that, no, it wasn't his fault.

_But it is. If I'd just stayed away from Lucy, not gotten her mixed up in my past, then she'd still have both her hands intact. It's my fault. I manipulated her somehow into saving me. There's logically no way anyone could possibly hurt themself that much willingly for someone else. It has to be my fault._

Sic saw a pair of hands enter the view of his lap. They belonged to Lucy. Unable to contain his anguish, Sic gently grabbed Lucy's burned hand and pressed it against his chest, begging for some way to make things right.

_Please, let her hand go back to normal. I'll give myself back to the prison. I'll stay in there for the rest of eternity if I have to. I don't care if it's not logical, it's what's right._

There was no answer from the heavens.

Disheartened, Sic closed his eyes, and tried to come to terms with what he'd done. He had to get a grip on himself.

Lucy's cry of shock snapped him out of his trance. Sic stared in amazement at his own two hands, enclosed gently around Lucy's right hand. They were glowing with the same white light that made up the prison.

Sic felt like he should take his hands off of Lucy- what if the white light burned her more? But he was too shocked to move, because the light felt like it was coming from _him._

It was magic.

_But that's impossible. I lost my magic when I was a little kid, right?_

Slowly the light began to die down. When it finally disappeared, Sic looked down and realized Lucy's right hand was back to normal. He raised his head and gaped at Lcuy in shock. "I… used magic," he said. "I healed you. How…"

His words were cut off by Lucy's lips, pressed firmly to his own. Sic was still in shock, so much that he didn't return the kiss at all. Lucy quickly pulled away.

"You saved me," she gasped. Sic noticed her cheeks were turning a little red. What did that mean again?

"Are you… embarrassed?" he inquired.

"Wh-what? No, I just wanted to say thank you…" she paused. "Did you not like it?"

Now Sic felt his own cheeks growing warm. What the hell was wrong with him? "I-uh…"

He was saved from having to answer by the voice of an old man emerging from the bushes.

"Pardon the interruption, but it's important that I have a word with you."

Sic and Lucy both gasped and turned around to find Makarov, the master of the Fairy Tail guild.

"Master! H-how much did you see?" Lucy asked quickly.

"More than enough," the master replied. "That's not important, though. What's important is that you've begun to unlock the magic inside of you."

Sic realized the old man was talking to him. "Wait. How do you know about my magic?"

Makarov sat down cross-legged on a smooth rock. "Long ago, there was told an ancient legend that prophesized the coming of an extremely powerful wizard, one who would be needed to save the world from a great evil. This wizard, named the Paladin of Light, would possess the ability to use the lost white magic."

Sic nodded thoughtfully. "And you think I'm this chosen wizard."

"What's white magic?" Lucy interrupted.

"White magic is the counterpart to black magic, which is of course the specialty of none other than Zeref," Makarov explained. "White magic is the opposite of black magic. It's lost because Zeref killed every wizard who once practiced it long ago. Whereas black magic is good for evil deeds- killing, resurrecting the dead, creating demons- white magic is used for pure-minded purposes- healing and protecting, for example. However, it is also much more versatile than black magic. While perhaps not as strong, it is still quite formidable in combat. In fact, white magic can be sculpted to form numerous different styles of magic. For example, the Heavenly Body Magic used by your brother Jellal is a variant of white magic, as is the Regulus Magic used by the Celestial Spirit Leo."

"So are you saying I can learn all different forms of white magic?"

"Very good, Sic. That's exactly correct. But then again, you already knew that, didn't you?"

Sic was confused. How did he know that already?

Lucy spoke up. "Of course! You said 'take me to the stars,' right? You must have meant Loki!"

The master looked impressed. "Very good, Lucy. I hope you don't mind letting the Paladin of Light borrow Leo for lessons."

Sic interrupted: "So what does this mean? Is the world going to be destroyed soon unless I save it? Why are you only telling me this now?"

"Whoa, too many questions, boy," the old man replied. "I don't know the answers to the first two, but I held off on telling you until I was sure you were the one. Now, there's one more thing I need to tell you." He took a deep breath. "There's one other wizard in the world who can use white magic. His name is Zeref."

Sic gaped at the old guildmaster. Zeref, the legendary black wizard, could also use white magic?

Lucy voiced his exact thoughts, telling Makarov that it was impossible. But Makarov simply shook his head and said, "It has been locked away deep inside him ever since he was born. And the important thing to realize, Sic, is that you have the power of black magic locked away inside of you as well."

And with that, the short old man turned around and calmly walked back into the bushes.

**Let me know what you think! I'd love to hear feedback! Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you all have a nice day.**


	13. Live and Leave Alone

**AN: Hey guys! How's it going? Time for another update! Get pumped! Since I took so long with last chapter, I slammed this one out to make sure I could post it the next day. Hope you guys like it!**

**Notice: I don't own Fairy Tail. Its characters, settings, etc. all belong to Hiro Mashima. However, as you've probably noticed, this fic has OC's in it. These, and these alone, are mine.**

Chapter 13: Live and Leave Alone

"Where's Gray?"

Mira looked up from the bar innocently at Erza's question. "What do you mean, Erza?"

Erza shot Mira a deathly glare. "Where is he? Our team is about to go on a mission. He hasn't shown up at the guild for the past week, and there's no sign of him at his house."

Natsu walked up to the two women. "Yeah, where is that bucket of ice, anyway? I've been itching to give him a good pounding!"

"Shut up, Natsu," Erza glared at the pink-haired dragonslayer. "Anyway, Mira, I was wondering if you knew whether Gray went on a solo mission or something."

"He didn't tell _me_ anything about a solo mission," Mira winked at her.

"Stop playing games, Mira! We need Gray to complete our team! Just tell me where he went!"

Mira sighed. "You're no fun. Well, if you must know, he did go on a solo mission about a week ago, but he hasn't returned since then. It's a little worrying, considering it was a pretty small job."

Hmm. That wasn't good. Erza hoped he hadn't gotten hurt or anything.

"Well, serves that jerk right," Natsu commented snidely. "C'mon, Happy!"

"Aye, sir!"

Erza grabbed the dragonslayer by the collar of his shirt and roughly dragged him out of the guild hall. "Oh no you don't. Come on, Natsu. We're going to look for Gray."

"Okay, Erza, I'm coming! You can stop choking me now," the boy gasped. After being released, he said, "What about Lucy? Shouldn't she come too?"

Erza stiffened. "Lucy is… busy."

Erza and Levy were the only ones Lucy had told about what had happened between her and Sic. Lucy had asked them to cover for her while she was busy "training" with Sic. Whatever that meant.

Still, Erza couldn't help but be more than a little jealous of Lucy. She got to see Sic every day. Erza hadn't seen or heard from Ezra since their date. In fact, Ezra had been gone when she'd woken up, with no note or anything explaining his absence. She couldn't understand why he didn't even say goodbye. She wondered if he'd even really been there at all, or if the whole night was just a wonderful dream.

Natsu was looking at her strangely. Erza realized she was blushing. She clonked him on the head to assure her superiority, and the two of them headed to board a train to the town where Mira said Gray had taken a job. The whole trip was very quiet, since Erza knocked out Natsu before the train started moving so he wouldn't feel his motion sickness. When they finally arrived at the small town, Natsu was just beginning to wake up.

"So what was this job Gray was doing again?" he asked her.

"Just taking out a weak mage cult. Nothing he couldn't handle," she replied.

"I vote we split up to look for Gray," Happy chimed in. "Natsu and I can go look in the woods north of town, and you can check out the south end."

Erza thought that sounded reasonable, and so they split up. She began her search of the south end of town. It was hard finding many leads. She learned quickly from the townspeople that there was a mage cult in the town, but it had been broken up by a nameless ice wizard. In fact, this same ice wizard was rumored to have defeated every mage cult within a twenty-mile radius just during the past week.

So Gray had completed his job. Not only that, but he'd well exceeded the job requirements. Why hadn't he gone home after defeating the first mage cult? Where the heck was he now?

A few more hours of questioning townsfolk yielded her no more answers, so at the end of the day, she found Natsu and took the train back home. It troubled Erza how hard Gray seemed to be working. What possible reason could he have for taking on so much work, by himself, no less?

After stopping at her apartment briefly to take a shower, Erza decided that she needed to take some time to think. She was still incredibly confused as to Ezra's unexplained absence, and this new Gray situation didn't seem to help her thoughts much, either. She headed down to the river where she always went to be alone.

As she finished walking down the path to the riverbank, Erza eagerly anticipated the opportunity to clear her mind. However, her mind only became more befuddled when she finally arrived at her secret thinking place.

Because there, sitting cross-legged and facing the water, wearing only his underwear, was Gray.

Sic felt sweat pouring down his forehead as he practiced in the light of the full moon. He kept throwing punches at a few rocks, each one glowing with a blazing light that left noticeable scars in the granite.

"You need more power," the Celestial Spirit known as Lucky instructed Sic. "Your attacks are too weak because your faith in Regulus isn't strong enough."

"I'm doing the best I can," Sic replied. "Perhaps you'd like to teach me something other than basic punches?"

Lucky scowled. "I told you, you need to master the basics first. Once you let the power of Regulus flow fully through your body, _he_ will teach you the rest of his magic."

Sic glanced over at Lucy, who was sound asleep on a rock nearby. He wished he could just spend some time alone with her and not with this overbearing nincompoop.

"Hey, take your eyes off the lady. It's not decent." Lucky's eyes flashed at Sic under his shades. Sic simply scoffed at Lucky in disgust and went back to punching.

_That. Ignorant. Fool. I would bet he's… what's the word? Jealous. Ha. What a buffoon. I'll show him Regulus Magic._

Sic's next punch blasted the rock clean in half and sent little pieces of shrapnel flying in all directions. Sic quickly repeated his action on the remaining rocks and reduced them to rubble.

Lucky stared at him for a few seconds in grudging admiration. "Fine," he said. "Good job. I've taught you all I need to."

"Look, what's your problem with me, Lucky? Spit it out," Sic challenged him all of a sudden.

Lucky crossed his arms and glared at the white wizard. "I have a _problem_ with you and Lucy," he spat.

"I knew it!" Sic said triumphantly. "You're what they call _jealous_, aren't you?"

Lucky looked taken aback. "Wh-what? No! Do you honestly think I'm that petty?"

Sic was confused. "Then why are you against Lucy and me?"

"Because you're not good for her," Lucky replied scathingly. "You're too dangerous to be around. She may have forgotten about all the pain you caused her, but I haven't. I don't care that you healed her hand afterwards, you and your stupid white prison caused her unimaginable pain. Now on top of that, _she_ has to shoulder your burdens as well? What kind of Paladin would let an innocent girl carry the fate of the world?"

Each of Lucky's words was like a blow to Sic's chest. Sic felt his knees buckle. Every single one of them was true. And they just kept coming.

"Lucy is the sweetest person I know. As one of her spirits, I care about her more than anything else in the world. And you're a terrible influence on her. She doesn't need this emotionless weight dragging her vitality down. If you really cared about her, you'd just leave her alone instead of selfishly having her shoulder your burdens. If you really cared about her, you'd just leave and never come back."

Lucky was right. Who was he to hang around Lucy all the time? Who knew when the white prison might show up and hurt her again? How could he expect her to carry his burden? What kind of champion of good would bring so much danger to another person?

"You're… you're right."

Sic shakily stood. "I need to move on," he said to Lucky. "I have to keep her safe. Thank you for showing me the error of my ways."

One slow footstep at a time, Sic turned around and began to walk into the mountains. He wanted more than anything to look back at Lucy for one last time. But he couldn't because if he did, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to make himself leave.

Despite his body being filled with newfound magic, Sic had never before felt so empty.

He walked and walked, for hours upon hours. He only stopped to rest when the sun began to rise. Then, he sat on the peak of a mountain, watching the sun rise, and for the third time in his life, he began to cry.

**Thanks a lot for reading! Let me know what you think with a review! See you all next time, and I hope you all have a nice day.**


	14. Half-confessions, Cover-ups, & a Visitor

**AN: Hey guys! Sorry this took so long. I felt like this was one of the chapters that I could easily screw up, so I pent an extra-long time working on it to try and make it not suck. Hopefully this is to your liking! As always, reviews, favorites, follows, etc. will be greatly appreciated. Enjoy!**

**Notice: I don't own Fairy Tail. Its characters, settings, etc. all belong to Hiro Mashima. However, this fic does contain a fair amount of OC's if you somehow haven't noticed. These are mine. But nothing else. You know. Copyright stuff. Don't sue me.**

Chapter 14: Half-confessions, Cover-ups, and a Visitor

No. What the hell was she doing here? Gray wasn't nearly ready to face her yet. _I haven't taken on nearly enough jobs,_ he thought. _There's no way I'm strong enough to tell her yet, and definitely no way in hell I'm strong enough to beat Ezra. Plus, there's no reason why I should ever tell her at all, since she went out with Ezra already. I guess I just have to get over my feelings right now… and forever._

The clink of Erza's armor as she approached startled Gray from his thoughts. He quickly straightened up and began babbling incoherently. "E-Erza! What are you doing here? I-I mean, it's totally all right for you to be here, of course, because this _is_ your river after all- I mean, what I should say is, you might be wondering what the heck _I'm_ doing here? And, you know, that's a really good question. I shouldn't be here at all, and I'm sorry for disturbing your secret hideout, and I'll be going now-" Gray started to dash off into the woods, but Erza stopped him with one arm.

"Calm down, Gray. You're acting very strangely. Is something the matter?"

Gray was never cold, but his teeth felt like chattering, he was so nervous. "Uh… Nope. Nothing at all." He laughed nervously. "Why do you ask?"

"You've been gone from the guild for days," the red-haired girl explained. "Natsu and I spent all day looking for you. I found out about all that extra work you've been taking on by yourself. I appreciate the work ethic, Gray, but why didn't you let us help you? We could've…"

Erza's lecture droned on, but Gray was too dumbstruck to pay much attention to her words. _She… was looking for me? Why would she take the time away from Ezra to find me? I mean, I know she's my teammate and all but she knows I can take care of myself…_

Erza's armored hand on his shoulder startled Gray out of his space out. Erza stared at Gray with an expression of deep concern. "I know you want to get stronger, Gray, but you should do it with us. We're a team for a _reason_. Now promise me you won't ever abandon us like that again, even for just a week."

It was kind of funny that Erza seemed to think Gray could possibly refuse her. Of course he couldn't.

"Y…Yeah. 'Course, Erza. I'm sorry. I won't do it again," Gray mumbled while staring at the ground.

Suddenly he felt her hand lightly grabbing his chin and lifting his face upwards. Gray could tell he was blushing. _God help me, please don't let her notice._ "Really, Gray… Is something bothering you?" she probed. "Please… you can tell me. I won't judge you no matter what it is."

_Yeah, right._

What if he did just tell her? What if he just said it? _I'm in love with you, Erza. I have been ever since I found your soft side at this same river when we were kids. You're the most loyal person I've ever known, and you draw on your strength from that same loyalty. I always feel safe in battle beside you. Ever since that day, I've known that you've been through so much pain and suffering, but you soldier on through it all just to protect everyone else. I can't express to you how much that makes me care about you._

Gray's perfect, ideal confession flashed through his mind again. He'd memorized it word for word; it would be so easy to just recite it! It would be like when he used to have to recite poems at school before Deliora destroyed his old life.

"Gray?"

Gray took a deep breath. He was going to say it.

A certain feeling Gray had become very familiar with one again crept into Gray's mind: doubt.

_She's not going to take it well,_ it whispered. _You're a stripping pervert who always gets into fights with an idiotic, childish, pink-haired pyro. You've shrugged off the one girl who actually liked you for months, and now you want to convince Erza to be with you? Forget it. Why would she choose someone like you over the great Ezra Mathin, Ice Boy?_

"Erza, I… I've just been thinking about… Ur," Gray finished lamely.

Erza looked concerned. She bought it. "Oh, really, Gray? I'm so sorry. Do you want to talk to me about it?"

Of all the things he had to make up a lie about, it _had_ to be that. Thinking about his old master was probably even more painful than thinking about Erza. Well, he had to roll with his cowardly decision now.

Gray sat down on the riverbank again, and Erza joined him. The starlight's reflections in the water seemed to be taunting him for his cowardice.

"Well, last week was the anniversary of when Ur cast the Ice to Shell to save Lyon and me from Deliora." Lie. "I just thought about how it was all my fault for getting into that fight with Deliora in the first place." Not true. Gray had been too focused on his own petty selfish problems to remember. "I thought, 'What if that happened again? What if I was the only one who could save somebody from the guild, and I just wasn't strong enough, like Ur was?' I had to become stronger." Well, at least his lies were plausible, and Gray didn't have to try to exude fake emotion. Real tears were coming from his eyes at the memories. How dare he deface Ur's memory like this? How could he just use her sacrifice as an excuse for his actions?

Gray felt Erza's arm around his shoulder, pressing his face against her armored chest plate. It hurt, but Gray didn't mind. "It's okay, Gray. I understand. I feel that way about everyone in the guild all the time. But I have the perfect remedy."

Gray couldn't make any noise but a sob. What a loser he was. Here he was crying like a baby, getting tears and snot all over Erza's pristine armor.

"It's okay, Gray." She started stroking his hair. This was too much torture. "What I always remember is that I'm not alone. Everybody in the guild will always be at my back. So no matter what happens, I'll never have to save someone on my own. I'll have the entire force of Fairy Tail behind me. And so do you. So does everyone in the guild."

Gray stopped crying. Those feelings may have been meant as a cover, but they were real. And Erza had comforted him.

He couldn't take this much longer- being stuck in her half-embrace, not being able to take it any further. His body was heating up too fast. He was going to spontaneously combust if he stayed stuck in perpetual perpetuity like this.

Gray extracted himself from under Erza's arm, and shakily stood up. "Th-thanks, Erza. I really appreciate your advice. We should go on another mission soon."

Erza gave him a smile and agreed. Gray stalked off into the woods, cursing his own cowardice.

Erza couldn't get much thinking done after _that_ curious incident, so she decided to just head home to her place in Fairy Hills. Lying awake in bed, staring at the ceiling, Erza remembered Gray's face back at the river. He'd cried in front of her. Neither one of them had shown real emotions to each other in private since he'd found her crying at the river so long ago. In fact, Erza didn't think she'd ever seen Gray cry, not even when she'd made him and Natsu scrub the entire guildhall with q-tips as punishment for one of their fights. Ur's death really must have meant a whole lot to him.

Erza didn't know how long she'd been staring at the ceiling before she heard a curious rapping noise coming from the glass of the window. She jumped out of her bed just as the window opened, and a dark figure slipped through, enveloped in a black cloak, and with a hood pulled over his face.

An assassin? How did they get into Fairy Hills? She quickly requipped into twin swords and lunged at her assailant. Suddenly he parried with twin swords of his own, which she swore had not been there a second ago. She was so surprised that the assailant was able to easily disarm her and point a weapon at her throat. Erza opened her mouth to scream, but a hand was placed over her mouth that muffled her cry.

"Please, my dear," a familiar voice soothed. "It would look quite bad if I were to be discovered."

Th…That voice. What was he doing here?

The man released his hand from her mouth and lowered his swords. The he lowered his hood. As Erza had realized, the man was none other than Ezra Mathin.

"E-Ezra! What are you doing here? Are you here to…" Erza could feel herself shaking in anticipation.

"Believe me, Erza, I would love to, but there's something much more important we need to talk about," he interjected quickly.

Erza noticed an utter lack of any kind of smile on Ezra's face. He was dead serious. It didn't suit him at all. Ezra without any kind of devilish smiling was almost… blasphemous.

"You have to get the guild prepared for battle. Hydra Claw is going to attack tomorrow at dawn. Our orders are to wipe the guild off the face of the earth."

**Hehe... scrub the guildhall with q-tips... totally Erza. I'm so proud of myself for thinking of that one. Anyway, hope you guys liked the chapter! Let me know what you think, and as always, I will see you guys next time. Hope y'all have a nice day.**


	15. The Liar's Vanguard

**AN: Hey all, time for another update! This is me wanting to write about an "arc" as they usually do in the Fairy Tail style of plot. Y'know how it is. Anyways, I'm really excited about how all this plays out, and I hope you guys are as well. As always, reviews, favorites, follows, etc. will be much appreciated. Enjoy!**

**Notice: I don't own Fairy Tail. Its characters, settings, etc, all belong to Hiro Mashima. However, this fic contains OC's, so those are mine. But nothing else. Yeah.**

Chapter 15: The Liar's Vanguard

As the first rays of sun peeked out from beyond the horizon, Erza wondered if she had done enough. She was so exhausted from preparing the guild's defenses without getting any sleep, and she could tell her fellow guild members felt the same. She stood on the Fairy Tail guildhall's rooftop with the rest of the guild members, waiting for Hydra Claw's prophesized attack. She went over what Ezra had told her once more in her mind.

"I'm really sorry, Erza, but I'm going to be the one leading the invasion tomorrow. The attack is unnecessary and unprovoked, but I have to support my guildmaster's decision, whatever his motives might be. I just came to warn you, so you guys might have a fighting chance. We're going to arrive in a giant warship. I believe the situation will be similar to one you previously faced, when your guildhall was attacked by the Phantom Lord guild. Our warship will be similarly difficult to dismantle. It is composed of seven sources of power. Destroy those, and the whole system collapses. We will be forced to retreat. However, the entirety of the guild will be aboard the ship, prepared to stop all invaders. I myself will have to fight my hardest to prevent you from destroying the warship."

Erza had interrupted him then, "But Ezra, why do you have to do this? You know your master's decision is horribly unreasonable. Are you sure he wasn't drunk or something when he gave the order?"

Ezra's face was sad when he responded. "Even if he was, my dear, I would still have to obey. I would sooner die than betray the guild to which I owe not only my allegiance, but also my life. Believe me, I do hope we fail and the master reconsiders his decision. I wish you all luck tomorrow, but know that tomorrow I will be forced to kill you." And with that, he had left out the window as quickly as he came, without any sort of goodbye.

Erza couldn't believe Ezra would do something like that. Of course she understood the deep bond of loyalty Ezra felt to his guild, but how could he squander that guild's honor by attacking a friendly guild? How would she handle the situation if Makarov ordered to attack an innocent fellow guild?

Natsu and Lucy ran up to join her. "Sorry we're late," Natsu told her. "Lucy's creepy stalker guy went missing."

That snapped Erza right out of her thoughts. "What?" She hoped Lucy was okay.

Lucy was visibly distraught. "He was training with Loki when I fell asleep… When I woke up there was just a bunch of smashed rocks, and Sic was gone! What could have happened to him?"

Erza took the girl aside and soothed her. She knew all too well how Lucy felt. "It's okay, Lucy. I'm sure Sic's all right. He can take care of himself. The important thing is to focus on protecting the guild. I'm sure he just went for a walk or something."

Natsu's pink-haired face poked into their embrace. "Hey guys, sorry to interrupt, but, uh… I think they're here."

The guild's panicked voices of recognition from all around Erza confirmed Natsu's theory, and so did the giant warship coming over the horizon.

The flying warship was nothing if not magnificent, and just as terrifying. The hull was composed of interlocking green metal that looked like reptilian scales. They seemed to vibrate and move as the ship moved, as if the thing were breathing. Out of the ship's deck sprouted seven long towers, spiraling and coiling at least fifty feet into the air. At the top of each of these towers was positioned a giant snake's head, its mouth open to the depths of the tower.

"Laernus," Master Makarov breathed. "Hydra Claw's legendary warship."

"Man, I can't believe I gotta do this from the other side!" Gajeel complained. "How the hell did you guys beat us back then anyway, huh?"

The guild members were so distracted by the approaching warship that they didn't even respond to Gajeel's snide comment. "What did that double agent tell you about how to destroy that thing, Erza?" Gildarts inquired.

"The seven heads," Erza replied. "Destroy the hydra's seven heads, and the whole thing will come crashing down."

"Got it," Gildarts replied. "Leave this to the Master and I. We don't want any of you getting hurt."

Normally Erza would have protested, but oddly, she felt a little relieved. She still vividly remembered her duel with Ezra. If someone with that kind of power was only one member on the opposing side, did they really have the strength to defeat the enemy? Perhaps it would be better if she just let Makarov and Gildarts destroy the ship before anyone could get hurt.

A plank slid out from the prow of the warship, and two figures walked out onto it. Erza recognized one of them: Ezra Mathin. Ezra did not look happy, but he stood there purposefully nevertheless. On his left stood a tall, thin boy about sixteen. He didn't look very formidable: he wore a plain white T-shirt and cargo shorts, with messy ear-length chocolate-brown hair enveloping his head. He looked like just any regular non-wizard teenager.

Ezra's voice boomed out through a megaphone. It was melancholy, and full of hesitation. "Fairy Tail, surrender at once and we promise to make your deaths merciful. Should you attempt to resist, the entire town of Magnolia will be wiped out along with your guildhall."

Makarov's form glowed, and he grew to twenty times his usual size. Gildarts began giving off a staggering amount of magic power through his glowing white aura.

"You bastards don't really think you can just waltz in and destroy our home without a fight, do you?" Gildarts roared.

"Whoever threatens my children will not live to see another sunrise!" boomed the voice of Makarov.

With a single, primal roar, the two mighty wizards unleashed one devastating blast of magic power. One by one, the hydra's seven heads were wiped out, obliterated. The guild's cheers died down when the warship did not collapse.

"Hey, what's going on?" Wakaba shouted. "I thought that was supposed to-"

Suddenly Gildarts and Makarov both doubled over in pain. Erza registered with alarm that they both had arcs of powerful electricity surging through their bodies.

The boyish voice of Ezra's companion boomed through another megaphone. "In each of the heads was placed a Blitzer lacrima. Supercharged versions of Thunder Palace lacrima. Incredibly devastating to those who destroy them. One of Sparky's specialties."

_Sparky?_

Before anyone could react, the boy had jumped down onto the guild's rooftop. He pulled a crystal from his pocket. "And here's a teleportation lacrima. Another one of Sparky's specialties." He slammed it onto the ground next to Gildarts and Makarov's collapsed forms, and in an instant, all three of them had disappeared.

The ensuing outcry was silenced by Ezra's megaphone. "Thank you, Erza, for your cooperation. Now that that's out of the way, I believe it's time to proceed with the destruction of your guildhall."

Erza was too dumbstruck to notice the equally dumbstruck faces all staring at her openmouthed. _What did he say? Did he just lie to me to get Makarov and Gildarts out of the way? Does he even care about me at all? Or was that all just a big lie?_

Ezra Mathin was going to pay for this.

Makarov and Gildarts began to regain their senses as the paralysis wore off. Being powerful mages, they were able to recover fairy quickly despite the lacrima's effects being potent enough to kill a lesser wizard. Gildarts quickly scanned their surroundings.

They stood in what appeared to be some kind of cell they might have in an insane asylum, albeit one the size of the guildhall. The room was huge and empty, with no windows or doors of any kind. About twenty feet away stood the boy that had been with Ezra earlier, arms folded over his chest, a serious look on his face. "Oh good, you're up already. I was starting to think I'd have to kill you while you were still down."

Makarov stood up next to Gildarts. "Where are we? Where are my children? Who do you think you are to challenge the two strongest Fairy Tail mages, boy?"

The boy's expression shifted to a cocky smirk. "We are in a silver coliseum, another one of Sparky's inventions. You cannot destroy it. It exists inside an alternate dimension. Its occupants can only leave when one side is defeated in battle. As for your 'children,' if they're not already dead, they're back at the guildhall having the fight of their lives."

Gildarts' fists tightened. "Oh, so all we have to do is beat you? I was going to do that anyway."

Makarov put a restraining hand on Gildarts' shoulder- or, well, actually, his thigh, because that was as high as Makarov could reach. "Wait. You didn't answer my third question."

The boy actually shrugged and burst out laughing. "I am Masud of the Hydra Claw guild, and I assure you that I will prove to be unbeatable."

**This guy is a badass, in case you were wondering. Anyhoo, hope you guys liked it! Let me know what you think. As always, I will see you guys next time! Hope you have a nice day.**


	16. Opening Montage

**AN: Hey guys! This chapter's just kind of a warm up to the epicness that is Fairy Tail vs. Hydra Claw. That said, I hope you'll find it enjoyable. As always, favorites, follows, and reviews are greatly appreciated. Enjoy!**

**Notice: I don't own Fairy Tail, because I'm not Hiro Mashima.**

* * *

Erza didn't think. Her Blackwing Armor simply appeared on her form in a heartbeat, and she was charging across the water towards the flying warship, towards that horrible man standing on a platform threatening to kill all she held dear, towards that man who had deceived her just to get her strongest allies out of the way. She put all her power and energy into a single, wild slash across Ezra's abdomen.

It passed through his waist like it was made of butter. Shocked that Ezra hadn't blocked her attack, Erza stood back a little before she realized his form was flickering slightly. _A projection. That coward._ She could see sadness in Ezra's eyes as he spoke again, but she knew that everything about him was fake. It was all a lie.

"Erza, I don't know how I can properly apologize for what I've done. I had no choice but to lie to you."

Erza's face became even more contorted by rage and pain. She kept slashing wildly at the projection. She just wanted to make him go away. "You made me feel safe with you, I spent the night with you, you left without saying goodbye, and then you return two _weeks_ later just to lie to me and ambush my comrades? What is _wrong_ with you?"

Even through it was a projection, Ezra still flinched at Erza's words. "I'm so sorry, Erza. You don't know how hard this has been for me." His projection flickered again and dissipated.

* * *

Gray watched in horror as Erza attacked Ezra in a rage. His fellow guild mates were still staring at her. Gray could tell they had begun to doubt her loyalty. That was ridiculous. That bastard Ezra had abused her trust and tricked her into endangering her guild mates, and all his fellow guild members could do was gawk.

"Come on! We've got to help her out!" Now they were all gawking at him. Gray cleared his throat.

"Look, I know it looks bad. But Erza would _never_ betray anyone in Fairy Tail. You all know that! Erza is the most loyal one of all of us! And now she's out there fighting for our guild, and you're all just standing here? For shame!"

He clasped his fists, closed his eyes, and a bridge made out of ice appeared between him and the ship. "I'm going to help her destroy that thing. Now, you could all stand here watching, or you could come and show these jerks just what the Fairy Tail guild is capable of! Let's do this for Gildarts and Gramps!"

A second of silence. Two. Three.

Natsu was the first to speak up, and in doing so he opened a floodgate through which all the other guild members rushed. "No way I'm letting you show _me_ up, ice boy! I'm all fired up!"

"Aye!"

"I'm right behind you, Natsu-ni!"

"My beloved Gray, of course I would follow you to the ends of the Earth!"

"No way I'm letting Pinky have all the fun!"

"I'll give those guys a taste of my Lucy Kick!"

"I'll do my very best!"

"Absolutely not! You're staying here, child."

"Those jerks can't interrupt my drinking session and get away with it!"

"Fairy Tail's strongest team backed up by the rest of the guild is unbeatable!"

"Inspiring one-liners are manly!"

"Big brother, I'll always have your back!"

"This is just like all those inspiring series of one-liners I've read about…"

"Ooo, Levy… you're so smart!"

"The only thing bigger than my sword is my conviction!"

"I swear I'll turn the whole guild to stone!"

"It is strictly against the rules to attack another guild. Those who break the rules must be punished!"

"Let's go, babies!" _"Let's go!"_

"Ready, Macao?"

"I told you to call me Master!"

"Let's shoot 'em up, Bisca!"

"Right on, Alzack!"

"Pictures of this battle will sell like hotcakes at the shop!"

"This is way better than picking a job!"

"Oui!"

With one unified cry, the Fairy Tail guild mages all charged across Gray's ice-make floor with Gray leading the charge, arriving on the ship's deck just as Ezra's projection disappeared. "For FAIRY TAIL!"

Far above, at the top of each of the seven towers, where the guild members couldn't see, a green magic circle began to glow.

* * *

Gildarts and Makarov braced themselves for battle. While this boy Masud didn't radiate any magic power at all, his confidence in what should be a slaughter fest in Fairy Tail's favor made them wary of the boy. He obviously knew something they didn't.

"Shall we get started?" Masud cackled. He held up his left arm, revealing a small, black tattoo of an arrow on the back of his wrist, pointed directly toward his hand. Holding his hand out in front of him, with the palm facing down, he extended his pointer and index fingers, and made a pushing motion with his right hand. The arrow shot across his arm towards his wrist, and disappeared when it hit his wrist. "Shields up," he whispered.

Gildarts braced himself for an explosion of magic power. Surely he must've just activated some kind of seal, right? But no, nothing happened. Masud grinned and charged them.

He was fast. He jumped into the air and aimed a kick at Gildarts' head. Gildarts intercepted the attack with his left arm and socked the kid right in the stomach. Masud was sent crashing into the side of the coliseum. Makarov roared and quickly followed up the attack with a barrage of magical bullets. Gildarts blasted him with a powerful crash spell. The guildmaster then grew into his giant form again and began pummeling where Masud had fallen mercilessly. _I know he seemed confident, but there's no way he could come back from that. Guess he was just all talk._

Makarov started when his next punch was intercepted. Masud began standing up, and pushed back Makarov's giant fist.

Gildarts was flabbergasted. The boy didn't even look scratched. How the hell was he doing that?

Masud brushed some dust off his shoulder. "Oof, that is going to hurt later. You two aren't bad, you know. You just need some more diversity to your attacks. Something more than just brute strength."

Gildarts still couldn't close his mouth. "How…"

Masud grinned. "See, I've got this little ditty called Delayed Pain. When I activate it, I'm impervious to pain for four hours. Sure, at the end I'll feel all the pain I put off, but… During the time I've got, I'd say you two clowns are pretty much powerless to beat me. You can't keep me down!"

Masud launched himself at them again. Makarov smashed him into the dirt, and Gildarts blasted him with several high-level crash spells. The floor around him was completely obliterated.

To his dismay, Masud climbed out of the hole, chuckling. "Man, you guys need to get a clue. You can't beat me. Your defeat is only a matter of time."

Gildarts felt his heart sink. This was going to take a while.

* * *

_Where am I?_ Sic opened his eyes. For some curious reason he seemed to be asleep at the peak of a mountain. Why wasn't he at home in his cottage? Where was Lucy?

Oh, right. Lucy.

That was why he was here.

Looking down, he noticed with alarm that below where he sat, there was… nothing. Nothing at all. Below the peak of the "mountain" was an endless sea of blackness. The world that once lived below him had vanished.

_Is this just… a dream? If I wake up, will I be back at the cottage with Lucy?_

"Sic."

_Am I hearing things?_

"Sic, please answer me."

_A voice? Maybe it's real. Is it the voice of the white prison?_

"Sic, please. I need to talk to you. Let me know where you are."

_No, it's not. That voice came from my own head. This one is from somewhere out in the void._

"I-I'm here." He stuttered.

A man appeared before Sic in the blackness. He wore a whitish blue shirt under a dark blue cloak, and simple dark pants tucked inside laced boots. His blue hair fell all over his face, and under and above his right eye was a very familiar tattoo. He looked like… like… Oh god. Sic gasped.

"Jellal?"

"Hello, Sic."

* * *

The guild members had decided to split up to cover more ground in search of the guild's true power source. Gray had gone with Cana, Erza and Juvia. The tunnels beneath the ship twisted and turned in the most confusing patterns, even pointing up and down in 3-D space. It was almost as if they were… intestines. The few enemies they'd encountered thus far had not presented much of a threat- they were all grunts. Gray knew, however, that soon they were bound to find someone who could give them more of a challenge.

He wondered how Erza was doing. He could tell that she was still in a state of shock from Ezra's betrayal, and Gray couldn't blame her. He wanted to ask her how she was doing, but he hadn't dared to. _Come on, Gray, man up. She needs your support right now._

Gray opened his mouth to speak, but at that moment, someone triggered a trip wire and in the floor of the corridor opened a pair of holes, which had been placed so that Gray and Juvia fell down one, and Erza and Cana fell into the other. Gray and Juvia dropped like stones and bounced all over the inside of the rounded tunnel before landing with a sickening _thud_.

Woozy, Gray lifted his head to see Alzack and Bisca standing over him with their backs turned. They appeared to be in the middle of a gunfight. A blast of magic energy bullets erupted on the ground before them, and Alzack and Bisca were sent flying back into the wall behind Gray and Juvia. Gray glanced over his shoulder to confirm that they were unconscious. He struggled to his feet and helped Juvia up. She was swooning. That fall must have really taken it out of her.

As the smoke cleared, their enemies' faces came into view.

"Just as the sun rises in the morning, two fresh enemies have arrived to take the place of their fallen comrades."

Standing across from Juvia and Gray were two figures, one Gray recognized and one he didn't. The one he recognized was Kamarr, Ezra's strange teammate from Head Five. The one he didn't was a woman in her late twenties. Her long black hair spilled out of her cowboy hat. She wore high cowboy boots with spurs, tight skirt and a top that exposed her midriff. On either side of her belt were two old-fashioned Wild West gun flasks. In each of her hands was a magic pistol.

"Yeee-haw! Those two gun mages weren't too shabby, but they were no match for ole' Ginger here! Golly! Nobody can stand up to our dynamic desert duo, right, sugar? She rubbed up against Kamarr's side." Kamarr looked uncharacteristically uncomfortable.

Great. A gun mage who was stronger than Alzack and Bisca put together, plus an S-class wizard from the strongest team in Hydra Claw. This wasn't going to be easy.

* * *

Erza and Cana ran through the bowels of Laernus's belly, completely focused on finding the ship's power source before it was able to carry out whatever horrible plan they were devising. Erza secretly hoped it was Ezra so she could have all the more reason to end his miserable life.

They were so preoccupied with their search that they didn't notice the pair of eyes staring their way from inside the wall up ahead.

* * *

Grant opened his eyes. His meditation session had been a good one, but there was no more time for that any more. The ones he'd been searching out for so long were finally falling right into his lap.

"Something wrong, Grant?" His companion inquired.

Grant glanced upward at his companion. "No, Flik. Quite the contrary, actually. After the longest time, I'm finally about to fight two others of my own kind."

His companion laughed, and a few locusts escaped his mouth. "Of course you'll leave one for me, right? My friends could use a little feeding."

Grant smiled and rose to his full height. "As you wish."

**Stuff's going down! Yaaay! As always, thanks for reading, and I hope you have a nice day.**


	17. Tail and Claw

**AN: Hey guys! I'm super sorry for the sorta-late update. I've been suffering from procrastination, and by "procrastination," I actually mean "reaching the Grand Magic Games arc in the Fairy Tail anime." Anyway, I'm super excited about this chapter, and I hope you are too. Get psyched! Get psyched!**

**Notice: I don't own Fairy Tail. Don't sue me.**

* * *

Chapter 17: Tail and Claw

Gajeel was really starting to get on Natsu's last nerve. Whose bright idea was it for him to team up with this guy in the first place?

"Hey, Studface. We gotta hurry up before the Troia spell wears off! Plus, I gotta find some more things to blow up, and I can't be waiting around for you!"

The iron dragonslayer glared at Natsu. "Flamebrain, we got to look carefully if we want to find the power source. I'm actually using my nose to try and sniff it out, unlike you. Now will you just shut up and let me concentrate?"

That really set Natsu off. He started throwing punches at Gajeel's back, which Gajeel ignored and began walking further down the tunnels. This of course only made Natsu angrier.

"Jeez, this team really isn't going to work out well, is it?" Happy's rhetorical question was almost drowned out by Natsu's antics, but Pantherlily still managed to hear it.

"Indeed," the black Exceed responded. "This won't work out well if we get into a fight." Pantherlily, of course, had just jinxed their group. Natsu smashed one of the tunnels' walls, opening an entryway into a large atrium.

The atrium's walls were covered in dripping green slime that looked and smelled like stomach acid. The walls sizzled and steamed wherever it touched. The walls themselves went up a ways above, and curiously the room appeared to be open to the sky. On a podium in the center of the room stood two menacing figures.

The one on the left was an enormous brute of a man. His skin was dark, his eyes brown. He wore dark brown pants, no shirt, and no shoes. His black hair was tied back into a long mane of dreadlocks. He was also incredibly dirty, covered in grime from head to toe. He leered at the two dragonslayers as if they were his opponents in some sort of team sport.

The one on the right was perhaps even more menacing. His slender frame was about a foot shorter than his companion, and his body was wrapped in an oversized cloak with a hood pulled almost completely over his face. The sleeves of his cloak hung down, as if he had no arms. He wore blue and white striped trousers with frills at the bottom, but they'd clearly seen far better days. A faint humming noise resonated from his body.

"Well, well," The hooded man spoke with a voice like a thousand tiny needles. "The fire ant and the stag beetle, as well as their larvae."

"Which one do you want, Flik?" the large man asked.

Natsu interrupted their conversation with his usual winning diplomacy. "You jerks made a big mistake messing with Fairy Tail! Now tell me where I can find your leader!" He leaped at the two men with both his fists lit.

The hooded man spoke again in that horrible prickling voice. "I think I'll take this one. I like spicy food."

Gajeel's eyes widened in horror as he watched what the man did next. Insects began pouring from Flik's coat sleeves, hundreds of them, perhaps thousands. They swarmed Natsu, their sheer numbers snuffing out his flame, and carried him off out into the open sky. Flik began to levitate and, cackling like a madman, flew off toward Natsu, out of sight. Happy yelled Natsu's name and flew up after his best friend. Pantherlily snarled and grew to his full size.

"Who are you, and why are you attacking Fairy Tail?" Gajeel snarled at the remaining enemy. "Actually, don't answer that. I don't care."

The large man returned Gajeel's deathly stare. "If you must know, my name is Grant. I've been looking forward to this for a long time, _Blacksteel_."

"Now, Lily!" The iron dragonslayer and his cat charged at the large dark-skinned man. Gajeel roared and struck at his face with an Iron Dragon Claw. The man held up one massive arm, which was so brawny it actually blocked his attack. He sidestepped Pantherlily's sword slash. _What the hell? He's so tough._

"I don't care for these battle surroundings. What say you we take this below?" The man clasped his hands into the metal floor and, to Gajeel's dismay, actually ripped the floor apart with just his bare hands. Below them was empty air. Gajeel and his opponent fell out of the warship, with Pantherlily staying behind.

Gajeel moaned. Examining his surroundings, he took note of the large crater he had found himself in. The two of them were just outside the edge of Magnolia. A large boulder flew into view. Gajeel grimaced and sliced it in half with his Iron Dragon Sword.

Staggering to his feet, he saw Grant standing about ten feet away. Grant's feet were firmly implanted a foot deep in earth. "That's not cool, bub. I didn't sign up for skydiving. I'm gonna pound you so hard the dirt'll fall right off your body!" He cupped his hands over his mouth. "Iron Dragon… Roar!"

Amazingly, Grant took a similar stance and copied his movements. Gajeel couldn't believe what he was seeing or hearing. "Earth Dragon… Roar!" Grant yelled out as well. The two breath attacks collided in a massive explosion.

As the dust cleared, Gajeel stared openmouthed at his opponent. "You're… a dragonslayer?"

Grant smirked. "I've never before met someone of my own kind. I look forward to pummeling you."

Gajeel gritted his teeth. _No way, bub. Iron is just purified earth._ He sprouted a sword out of his arm and charged.

* * *

Cana was down just like that. A sword suddenly sprouted from the wall out of nowhere and sliced her across the chest. As soon as she was hit, she went limp and turned incredibly cold. Erza could tell she wouldn't be able to fight any more. Panicked, Erza dodged sword slice after slice, ducking and weaving back and forth through the corridor. She couldn't get far enough away from the walls to be out of range, and she couldn't see whatever was assaulting her. Where was it coming from?

On the next strike she took a risk. She grabbed onto the side of the blade and pulled hard. Luckily, she pulled it off, and the man attached to the blade was yanked out of the wall.

Standing up, the man brushed himself off. He was clad in a full suit of light, jagged armor, the color of gloomy clouds. A black mask with the tiniest of slits for seeing covered his face. In one hand he held a five-foot long, wicked black sword that curved a few inches to the right and left. The edges around his body seemed to shimmer ever so slightly.

"The mighty Titania." The masked knight's voice grated on Erza's ears. "Word is you gave even Ezra a run for his money. You'd be quite an interesting opponent to spar with."

"Don't even mention that bastard, scum. Prepare to face the wrath of Fairy Tail!" Erza leapt at the night with her Heaven's Wheel armor at the ready. The man didn't even raise a sword to block her attack. Right as her sword was about to land a blow, the man's body flickered and turned an ethereal gray. Her sword passed right through his ghostly body. This wasn't a projection.

"What the… what is this?"

The knight's body shifted back to normal form. "I am Aether, of the Hydra Claw guild, master of the Astral Form magic. I can shift my body back and forth between a ghostlike state at will."

Erza lashed out at him again, but his image flickered and turned gray again. After her strike had once again passed through, his body switched back to regular form, and he sliced her across the back with his wicked-black sword. Erza gasped; the blade left a cold scar across her skin. Wherever it touched, Erza felt magic power slowly draining from her body.

The man brandished his blade proudly. "Soulscab," he boasted. "My sword doesn't leave physical wounds; instead it cuts holes in your magic energy, letting it drain right out of your body."

Erza's eyelids began to flutter. Her knees were shaking. _How is this guild so strong?_ She requipped into her Purgatory Armor and defiantly threw herself at the incorporeal knight.

* * *

Gray's ice shield was once again barely enough to block off the magic gunshots. He and Juvia were both pretty worn down; they hadn't been able to land a single attack. Not only were they kept well pressured by the cowgirl, but Kamarr blocked every one of their attacks by causing it to evaporate. They couldn't seem to get close to the two.

"Y'all need to keep more on yer toes, there! You'll never beat Ginger and sugar like that!" Another round of magic bullets covered the room. Gray felt his ice-make shield shatter this time, and a couple of bullets exploded on his shoulder. "How does that feel, _Sugar_? Give up yet?" she winked.

A primal roar erupted from the girl standing next to him. Juvia looked _really_ angry. "How dare you injure my beloved? How dare you flirt with him! You're going to rue the day you ever set eyes on my beloved Gray!"

Gray watched in horror as Juvia's power built to a waterfall's roaring crescendo. It was nothing short of frightening. "Water Lock!" Ginger became encased in a sphere of water. Juvia poured out her entire reservoir of water attacks onto the cowgirl's defenseless body. "Water slicer! Water nebula! WATER CYCLONE!"

The torrents of liquid pouring from Juvia's body crashed down onto Ginger's body all at once, and the cowgirl collapsed, defeated. Gray struggled to his feet. "Well, you're outnumbered two to one, Analogy boy. Want to surrender?"

Kamarr scoffed at Gray's offer without speaking. Still enraged, Juvia attempted to strike Kamarr with the same torrent of water she had obliterated Ginger with. Kamarr waved his hand. "Cactus shield!" A huge cactus sprouted in front of him and absorbed all of the water from Juvia's attack.

"Just as you two may be masters of ice and water, I am master of the desert. You cannot beat me," he boasted. "Hmm. You're not injured." He gestured at Juvia. "Why is your body not full of bullet holes, as would be the side of any strong battleship?"

"My body is made entirely of water," Juvia replied. "You cannot beat me."

Was Gray imagining things, or did Kamarr's face momentarily twist into to smile?

"Entirely of water, you say? Well, you are no less unfortunate than those who cross the path of Zeref himself."

Kamarr extended his hand and made a choking gesture. The snake on his shoulder coiled and hissed. "Pierce the heavens! Scorching ray!"

Juvia cried out in excruciating pain. Gray turned to see that Juvia was literally dissolving before his very eyes. Her body made of water was being evaporated into nothingness by the ray of scorching heat Kamarr had summoned. She screamed his name, but the "-ay" at the end of his name was cut off as her mouth began to evaporate. Gray screamed her name back and started towards her, but Kamarr's words stopped him.

"If you want this girl to live, you'll drop to your knees and surrender your own life as if it were a spare heart."

* * *

"Why are you here, Jellal?"

"I'm not really. I'm just a figment of your imagination."

"You… aren't real?"

"No. The real Jellal doesn't know you're alive."

"But… then why am I imagining you?"

"I believe it's your subconscious trying to tell you something. Your friends back at the guild are in deep trouble right this second, and they're going to need your help."

"What? Really? How's Lucy? Why am I even still here?"

"Relax, Sic. You won't be able to help as needed without what something that only I can teach you."

"You mean… Heavenly Body magic?"

"Yes… but only to an extent."

"To an extent? What else could you teach me?"

"I'm going to teach you how to develop your _own_ unique style of white magic."

* * *

**So! What do you think? Let me know! Reviews, favorites, follows, pats on the back, cookies... All are ****appreciated! (especially cookies) I hope you guys enjoyed, and I will see you guys next time! Hope you all have a nice day.**


	18. Fairies' Trials

**AN: Heyo! Another fight scene montage. I'm thinking after this I'll go more in-depth on individual fights per chapter. Hope you guys enjoy!**

**Notice: I don't own Fairy Tail. Don't sue me.**

Chapter 18: Fairies' Trials

Gildarts had never felt so frustrated in his life. There had been very few enemies he had faced recently that he couldn't simply overpower with his immense brute force. Even Bluenote Stinger and Byro Cracy, the two opponents who had given him the most trouble since he'd returned to Fairy Tail from his Century Quest, were both not quite a match for Gildarts in terms of raw magic power and physical ability. But this kid was not even close. He was a scrawny little teenage kid who just didn't know how to stay down- kind of like Natsu but without the "I'm all fired up!" part. To him, Masud was like a cockroach- practically harmless, but impossible to get rid of. Gildarts could even handle being bested by Acnologia- a _dragon_- but this was just embarrassing.

He and Makarov had given up trying to blow him up with magic a long time ago, since it was just a waste of magic power. Makarov had figured, if Masud's ability lasts four hours, then they would just have to wait until it wore off. But Masud's insect-like nature wouldn't allow them to just wait out his magic. Around their heads he buzzed, constantly wanting to pick a fight. Gildarts kept swatting him away like a pesky fly, over and over and over and _over_ again. But he just kept on getting right back up. Gildarts took it back. This boy was _much_ more annoying than Natsu.

And the worst part was, Gildarts could tell Masud's plan was working. Every time Gildarts fended him off, he got a fresh tiny scratch on his metaphorical armor. While Gildarts' stamina was indeed an exceedingly high number, Masud's stamina was infinite. Infinity was of course infinitely higher than any finite number.

"Wendy! Erza's in trouble!"

"You sure, Warren?" Wendy responded.

"Yeah, she's calling for assist. I need you to take her the emergency rejuvenation tech."

"I'll do my best!"

"Let's hurry, child."

As the sky dragonslayer and her cat dashed off below deck, Warren returned his sights to the battle in front of him. About half the guild was locked in combat with a single beastly man. Warren remembered him from the time when he'd visited the guild. His face had a way of imprinting itself in one's memory.

Macao's and Wakaba's attacks failed once again as they were sucked into the gaping void in the middle of the man's face. "Mmm, smoky! Savory! Fifths, please!"

"What's up with this guy?" Wakaba complained. "So far he's eaten Wendy's sky magic, Macao's Purple Flare, my smoke, several of Levy's Solid Scripts, Droy's plants, Max's sand, Romeo's fire, at least ten of Reedus' pictomagics…"

"Don't forget my hat!" Jet interjected.

"I told you to call me Master!" Macao snapped. A beefy arm smashed into his side and sent him crashing against the side of the boat.

"Maw's tried the buffet," the mouth monstrosity roared. "Now it's time to clean up the mess!" One by one, the guild members were swatted to the side like rag dolls. Something had to be done, and quickly.

_Warren,_ came Freed's voice. _There's something going on up here. A strange magic circle is glowing where the hydra heads used to be._

_Never mind that, Freed!_ Warren responded._ We've got bigger problems to worry about! I need the Thunder Legion to come down here and deal with this guy! At this rate, he'll take out half the guild by himself!_

Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen arrived just as the last of the main Fairy Tail squad was beaten to a pulp. Maw turned his beady eyes toward the remaining four.

"Maw sees new snacks. Maw eat!" the man snarled and charged.

"Careful! He can eat anything!"

"Oh, he's no match for the Thunder Legion. Trust me!" Freed assured. "Now! Let us do Laxus proud!"

Freed began to furiously inscribe an enchantment around the area, while Bickslow and Evergreen charged Maw.

"Let's go, babies!" _Let's go!_

"Fairy machine gun: Leprechaun!"

Maw opened his mouth and chugged down Evergreen's attack. "Mmm, tastes like sage… maybe a little clover…"

"Gahhh…" Bickslow cried. "Berian Formation!"

The blast of powerful magic energy once again went right down Maw's gullet. Maw reached out and snatched one of Bickslow's dolls and stuffed it down his throat. "Mmmmm! Tastes like spirit!"

Bickslow grinned. "Sorry, man, but even if you eat one of my babies' host bodies, it will…" His face changed to a look of horror, and he fell to his knees. "No way… You ate the baby's spirit too?" _Spirit, too?_ The remaining babies echoed with horror.

"I've got it!" Freed exclaimed. A set of enchantments surrounded the area's perimeter. "None shall eat anything within the barriers of this enchantment!"

Maw shrugged, walked right up to the wall of runes, and took a bite.

Freed's mouth dropped open. He sweatdropped, and then collapsed.

_Well, looks like the Thunder Legion isn't much help either. Natsu? Gajeel? Gray? Juvia? Cana? Where are you guys? What about you, Mira? Everything okay with your group?_

_Yeah, we're doing fine, Warren. We've managed to take out a few wizards, but we haven't encountered anybody super strong. And don't worry about the thunder Legion, Warren. I'm sure they'll pull through._

Breaking the connection, Mira turned her attention to her own assault group. Lucy was arguing with one of her Celestial Spirits, Lisanna was meekly asking if one of the wizards they'd just beaten to a pulp was all right, and Elfman was strutting around and pounding his chest. Even in the midst of all of this trauma and commotion, Mira couldn't help but giggle. She loved her family- not just her two siblings, but the rest of Fairy Tail, too. No matter what happened, they were all going to get through this, just like the guild always did.

"Come on, guys," she interrupted. "We gotta get going. We need to find the power source."

Before anyone could respond, a voice came from the shadows behind Mira. "Oh, I could help you with that."

Mira and the others whirled around to face the young blond girl facing them with a glint in her eyes. It was the girl from Head Five, Fenra. Of all the team members, Fenra was the one people knew the least about.

"How can you expect to beat us," Elfman began, "When you're not even a ma-"

His words were cut short by a powerful blast of silver magic energy that resonated from Fenra's outstretched palm. The four Fairy Tail wizards were blasted off their feet and slammed into the tunnel walls. Mira staggered to her feet and coughed. "Why… why are you doing this? Why are you trying to destroy Fairy Tail?"

Fenra waved her hand, and a ball of silver light about four feet in diameter floated up to the ceiling of the tunnel, basking the entre area in an eerie glow. "Technically, we're only doing this on Master's orders. But I have a special reason for hating you, Fairy Tail. This guild unnecessarily destroyed my hometown on a mission when I was small. And now I'm going to destroy _your_ home."

As per his usual battle strategy, Natsu was getting seriously pissed off. Unlike usual, his anger alone didn't seem to be working.

He'd always gotten horrible luck when it came to facing opponents. Ever since Erigor, half the people he faced used magic that nullified his own flames' power. Totomaru, Zancrow, Byro, that sickle guy from the Garou knights… Against all of them, he'd been able to beat them anyway with his bare fists and determination (well, except Byro). But how the hell was he supposed to fight a swarm of bugs with his bare hands?

Now, Natsu had never had much of a problem with bugs before. They burned surprisingly well, and made for quite the tasty snack when charred. But the amount of bugs he had to fight at this point was ridiculous. No matter how many he burned through, there were always more to take their place. He couldn't even see who the hell he was fighting.

"Happy," Natsu gasped. "We've got to get out of here now, or I think I might choke."

"Aye, sir!"

Somehow Happy managed to push his way out of the fog of locusts, and Natsu took in the sheer enormity of the plague. It stretched at least a mile wide in front of him, blocking off Natsu's view of the guildhall. That made Natsu _really_ mad. He was just about to charge back into the fog when he heard a gleeful cackle from behind him.

"Magnificent, isn't it? The insect is truly the epitome of perfect life. They create so many offspring that it's impossible to extinguish them all!" Flik's voice pierced Natsu's eardrums like a thousand tiny needles. He was levitating with no help at all, no indication of wings.

"Is that so, huh? Then maybe I'll just have to extinguish YOU!" Natsu leapt at the man with a blazing fist. His fist sunk right into Flik's abdomen as if it were made of jell-o. On contact, his flame was quickly snuffed out, and Natsu felt his hand being covered in countless searing stings and cuts. He pulled it out with a cry of pain to find that his hand was swollen, bleeding, and rubbed raw.

Flik cackled maniacally. "Not too smart to put your fist right into my swarm. I'll make those stings seem like honey on your wounds!"

From his hanging coat sleeves began pouring swarms of yellowjacket wasps, each one a tiny harbinger of piercing pain.

Meanwhile, Gajeel was slugging it out on the ground with another brute whose toughness exceeded his own. Gray was being forced to surrender to save the life of his guildmate. Erza was locked in combat with an opponent who couldn't be hit, with a gaping wound in her magic power.

And far above where even Natsu and Flik fought, green scales began to sprout from the tops of each of the seven towers.

**Thanks for reading! Hopefully this chapter wasn't too boring. Rates and reviews would be much appreciated! As always, see you next time and I hope you have a nice day.**


	19. The Guild of Scars

**AN: Hey all! Here's another chapter for your viewing pleasure! Hope you guys like it! This is kinda where Hydra Claw's "gimmick" is revealed, if you could even call it that. Anyway, I won't keep you waiting!**

**Notice: I'm not Hiro Mashima, and therefore don't own Fairy Tail.**

Chapter 19: The Guild of Scars

This was going nowhere. This "swordsman" wasn't playing fair. Every time Erza could've landed a strike, Aether disappeared momentarily, then reappeared and struck back. Every time he landed a blow, Erza could feel another gash in her magic energy bleeding out her power. She knew it was only a matter of time before she ended up like Cana.

She feinted a strike, baiting him into switching to his Astral form. Right when he switched back to strike, Erza pounced. She sliced him across the shoulder with her sword to stun him, then quickly requipped into her Purgatory Armor and smashed Aether in the stomach at full force with a satisfying crunch. He was sent flying across the tunnel and smashed into the wall.

Erza put her hands on her knees, panting. She couldn't keep this up much longer. Soon her magic energy would completely drain from her body.

Aether staggered to his feet. His armor was crushed in a massive indent in his chest, and from his ragged breathing, Erza guessed he had a couple broken ribs.

"You're strong, Titania. I understand now why Ezra respects you so. But I made a promise to myself that I would never lose again."

He reached up and removed his mask. Erza gasped at the sight of his face.

His face was covered in a crisscrossing network of scars. They traipsed all around his face, placed seemingly at random. Aether's upper lip was cut in half, and one of his ears was missing. One of his eyes had been gouged out.

"Ugly, isn't it?" Aether whispered. "Let me tell you a story. You know how this happened to me? A couple guild wizards did this. Their mission was to steal something from the mayor of my hometown, my father. They captured me and tried to use me for ransom. And you know what my father did to get me back?" He paused. "Nothing. Those guild wizards were so mad, they took it out on me. They did this to me because they couldn't complete their thievery job to make a couple thousand jewels!"

Erza was silent. She'd seen her fair share of hardships, but she didn't quite know what to say.

"But you know what? These scars make me strong! These scars remind me of the pain! They remind me that no matter what, I can't lose! Because if I do, this'll happen again! Everyone in Hydra Claw has their own scars. That's what makes us strong. That's what keeps the bond between us, and lets us know that no matter what, we won't let it happen again! And that's why Ezra is the strongest, because he wears his scars proudly. And now, I'm going to show him that I can do it as well! I'm going to defeat you to help our scars heal!"

And he launched himself at Erza with all his might.

Erza parried his blow and took a step backward. "I know how you feel."

Aether snarled and slashed at Erza viciously. Erza barely parried, but she didn't have the strength to strike back. She was starting to feel woozy. "No… no, you don't. You have NO idea what we've all been through, Titania-"

"I know what it's like to lose an eye."

Aether froze. Erza kept talking, although it was using up more and more of her energy. She would collapse soon.

"I know what it's like to be enslaved from an early age. I know what it's like to have my childhood crush turn evil. I know what it's like to need to win to protect my guildmates. You and I are not so different."

Aether's face contorted and twitched. Anger, fear, pain, guilt… but then one emotion assumed dominance. He screamed and slammed the hilt of his sword into Erza's head. Erza staggered and fell to her knees. Her vision blurred, and she started seeing spots. This should be where she drew on the last of her magic power and made a final push to win the fight, right? Where was her magic power now?

Erza smiled and closed her eyes. She hoped the rest of the guild would be able to finish the fight without her.

"Erza!" came a child's voice.

Erza's eyes snapped open. There was Wendy, panting hard as if she had been running. She held up a small package. "Once you beat this guy, you can have this!"

Erza's eyes widened as Wendy opened up the package, revealing a large slice of strawberry cake.

Erza felt a new overwhelming magic force flowing through her body. This must be the surge of magic power that comes to the surface in the presence of cake. Erza called this her Cake Origin.

Erza became cloaked in her Armadura Fairy armor. With one powerful slash and a burst of light, Aether was sent flying into the wall. With that, he was defeated.

Erza straightened up, rushed over to the cake, devoured it, and then collapsed and blacked out.

When she came to, Erza opened her eyes to see Wendy leaning over her. "Oh good, you're awake!" the child exclaimed. "I was getting worried."

"Honestly," Carla exclaimed, "Can't you people ever win _before_ the last minute?"

Erza groaned. She felt a lot warmer than before, perhaps because Wendy had sealed the wounds in magic power. She sat up, pleased that it didn't hurt much to do so. "Thank you for coming to my aid," Erza said to Wendy. Then she turned to Carla. "Never underestimate the power of cake!" She exclaimed passionately.

Carla was about to make a snide remark, but she was interrupted by a voice making a different one first.

"Cake. Ha! Such a pathetic food. Almost as pathetic as you, Aether."

The man stepped into the view. It was Nath, from Ezra's team Head Five. "I'll show you how the power of cookies surpasses that of your silly _cake_."

Erza's eyes narrowed. This bastard was going to get what he deserved for slandering the food of heaven.

Gray had no choice. He fell to his knees in surrender.

Kamarr ceased the scorching ray. Juvia collapsed, unconscious. "You resemble an insect right about now. So proud, so concerned with its daily concerns, but in the end it amounts to a meaningless speck on the bottom of my foot."

Gray grimaced. "Just do it, okay? Kill me and leave the rest of my guildmates alone."

Gray felt cactus thorns starting to press into his back. "Ah, yes. I will kill you," Kamarr droned. "And then I'm going to make the rest of your guild suffer the same fate. By challenging us, you have practically tied your own noose!"

Gray's face contorted in anger, but was replaced by pain when the cactus needles started expanding further into his back. He struggled to get up.

"Tch. Don't get up if you don't want that water girl to get evaporated. I want to make you suffer for defying Hydra Claw."

Gray wasn't going to let this bastard hurt anyone in his guild. Not while he was still alive and kicking. _I have to find Erza again._ He stretched his hands backward, straining to make the necessary movements for a spell. _Ice-make wall._

A large wall of ice erupted behind him that separated Gray and Kamarr from Juvia. Gray roared in pain and concentration, and managed to stand up, tearing the cactus needles from his flesh.

Kamarr took a step back. "How…"

Gray twisted his fists together. "I'll make a deal with you. If you can beat me one-on-one, no dirty tricks, then I'll tell you about our guild's secret weapon. If I win, then you'll have to tell me where the ship's power source is."

Kamarr's eye twitched. "Secret… weapon?"

Gray laughed. "Oh, yeah, of course you don't know about it. That's why it's a secret. Underneath the guild is an unbelievable magic weapon that we're just waiting to bust out on you dorks. And there's only one way to stop it."

Gray tried as hard as possible to keep a straight face. He was bluffing, of course. There was no secret power underneath the guild! Everyone knew that.

Kamarr had a strange look in his eye. "I accept, and my acceptance should be akin to that of a handshake." He held out his arm, and the snake on his shoulder slithered onto the ground. Gray noticed something on his neck that the snake had been covering: two deep, round gashes that looked like… bite marks?

_Who cares?_ Gray metaphorically slapped himself and assumed a battle stance. "Ice-make… Lance!" he exclaimed.

Kamarr waved his hand. "Mirage!" He disappeared along with his snake as Gray's attack hit, and reappeared behind Gray. The snake quickly reached out and snapped at Gray's leg, which Gray barely dodged. Gray attacked Kamarr several more times, only to reach the same frustrating result.

Man, this was some serious déjà vu for when he fought Rufus.

"You see, there is no way you can conceivably beat me. However, I'm a sporting man, so I'll lend you some assistance. If you can answer this riddle, you should be able to defeat me:

I can sizzle like bacon,

I am made with an egg,

I have plenty of backbone,

But lack a good leg,

I peel layers like onions,

But still remain whole,

I am long like a flagpole,

Yet fit in a hole.

What am I?"

Gray puzzled over that for a few seconds. _What the hell? What kind of challenge is that? This is Lucy's forte, not mine._

"While you're thinking about that, let's put on a show, shall we?" Kamarr took off his shirt.

Wait. Gray realized Kamarr hadn't really made any analogies in the last couple minutes, besides the riddle. And what the hell was he doing stripping? Isn't that _his_ gimmick?

"Hey, man, keep your clothes on."

"You're one to talk," Kamarr replied.

Gray looked down in horror and realized he wasn't wearing a shirt. "Shit! So you're like me, huh? You enjoy the cold? Kinda weird for a desert mage."

Kamarr smirked. "No, I just don't care for shirts. Out in the desert where I grew up, we weren't concerned with such trivial things as what _shirt_ we were going to wear that day. It was more about, you know, _survival_. I know you fools in Fairy Tail know nothing about the hardships we've all been through in Hydra Claw."

Gray clenched his fists. "Don't tell me about messed-up backstories, man. My hometown was destroyed by Deliora!"

"I really couldn't care less. You have no scars to show your hardships," Kamarr dismissed. And with that, he attacked Gray.

The dust devil he instantaneously summoned was what Gray might have imagined Max to be like if he unlocked his second origin. The sand was everywhere- in his eyes, nose, mouth, hair. He couldn't breath. Gray shuddered and froze the sand around him, then smashed his way out of the ice.

Kamarr smirked at Gray's struggling. "Oh, don't come up yet! We need to conserve oxygen in the room!" He summoned dust devil after dust devil and continued smothering Gray.

_What's going on with this guy? Since when is he so sadistic? _It was hard for Gray to think while the sands were suffocating him. During the brief periods of respite he got, he thought of the riddle. _That's how I'm supposed to beat him? How the hell could I figure it out?_

The snake at Kamarr's feet hissed. From where Gray was standing, it sounded like laughter.

_Goddammit Gray. Think. How can you get out of this? What would Erza think if she saw you now? Grow a spine._

Spine. That was like a backbone, right? Whatever has backbone has a spine, right? If they have a spine, they're a living animal, and some animals come from eggs. An animal that comes from an egg, with no legs… It peels… Sizzles…

Gray heard the hissing of the snake again.

Gray wanted to slap himself, he felt so stupid.

After Kamarr's next dust devil was destroyed, Gray seized his chance while Kamarr was too busy laughing. He mustered the rest of his strength to summon a Super Freezing Arrow which he pointed at Kamarr. Kamarr panicked and disappeared, and during that brief moment, he forgot to bring his snake. Gray took aim and pierced the snake right through the side.

Immediately he heard a loud scream. Kamarr was doubled over in pain on the other side of the room. Gray staggered over to him. "Ice-make… Hammer!"

Kamarr slumped over from the blow to the head, defeated.

Silence.

"How… how did you know?" Kamarr croaked. "How did you know about our permanent sensory link?"

"I didn't," Gray replied. "I just solved your riddle. And frankly, it was much too easy if I was able to solve it."

Kamarr's voice was raspy. "That snake… when I was six, it bit me right on the neck. That's my scar. I was going to die, but a very old and wise healer saved me by binding my lifeforce with that of the snake, thereby making me invulnerable to venom. At first I thought I was cursed, but the healer taught me that it was like I had gained a new brother. That's when I started to love analogies…" Tears were coming down Kamarr's cheeks.

"Gray would've felt sorry for the guy if he hadn't been so sadistic to him and Juvia. "Whatever. Just tell me where the power source is."

"Of- of course," Kamarr replied. "I'm a man of my word. The power source isn't any specific _thing_ on the ship. It's Sparky, our guild's master magical inventor. The thing is, you'll never get to her because Ezra's guarding her. You'll never stop the ship in time before…" His eyelids started to droop.

Gray grabbed him by the shoulders and started to shake. "Before what? Before what? Tell me, goddammit!"

Kamarr's last words came as a whisper. "Before the hydra heads regrow and wipe out the whole town."

**Nooooooooo way! NOBODY saw that coming, right guys? Guys? Okay, fine. It was a little obvious. Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and please don't forget to R&R! Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you all have a fan-freaking-tastic day.**


	20. The Terror of Salamander

**AN: Hey guys! Sorry this chapter took a while! I like how this one incorporates some comic relief. Also... twenty chapters! Woot woot! That's awesome for me, and I can't thank you all enough- people who review, follow, favorite, or heck, just cruise on by and stop for a read- you are all awesome! Also, super big thanks to The-Fallen-Guardian for adding my story to their community! You have no idea how much I appreciate all of you. So! I won't bore you any longer. Please enjoy!**

**Notice: I am not Hiro Mashima, and I don't own Fairy Tail.**

Chapter 20: The Terror of Salamander

"Fire dragon… Roar!" Natsu's breath attack charred the seventh horde of yellow jackets Flik had sent at him. This was going nowhere. Natsu couldn't land a hit on this guy; the air was just too thick with bugs, and if he tried to get close, the guy's body would automatically sting him. Natsu had learned that the hard way: his entire body was covered in small cuts, scratches, stings, and bruises.

Flik cackled even more after seeing Natsu's attack. "Hahaha! Cool attack! I should try it!" He opened his mouth and sucked up some of the insects from his locust swarm shield. "Locust Dragon… Roar!" He drenched Natsu and Happy in a torrent of bug guts.

"Ack! Ew! Ugh! Blech! What the hell, man? This is so gross! And that was NOT a dragon roar, goddammit!" Natsu REALLY didn't like people who made fun of dragons. The raging blaze of his soul built and released, in the form of a Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame.

The massive fireball was enough to take out about a third of Flik's substantial creepy-crawly air force. When Flik emerged from the smoke, his entire cloak and hood had been burnt off, exposing a VERY disturbing body.

He was a fairly slim man, who looked to be about twenty. His hair was light green and slicked back over his head. The disturbing parts started with his abdomen. He had no arms. It was a normal human body, aside from the fact that its form was constantly shifting. His skin was a sea of writhing insect forms, all of which seemed to bubble in and out view. It formed an ever-changing hypnotic green pattern. His face was even worse. Pincers jutted out from either side of his mouth. But worst of all were his eyes. They were like human eyes but… compound. Just looking at them made Natsu shudder.

"How. Dare. You." Flik growled. "You've seen this… this monstrosity. You cannot be allowed to live!" He opened his mouth and sucked in every last one of his insect horde. "My friends won't get to eat you, oh no. I'm going to use their power to eat you myself!"

Natsu didn't know what the hell was going on with this guy, why he suddenly got so mad, or why he'd gotten rid of his bug shields. However, there were two things Natsu identified with and approved of: a challenge to fight one on one, and anger. Maybe this guy wasn't so bad after all.

"You're on, bug boy! I'm gonna roast you till your guild begs for mercy!"

Flik scowled at being called "bug boy." "Insect form technique! Mantis style!" A pair of arms shimmered into existence on his body- however, these were long, green scythelike appendages with razor sharp edges, similar to those of a praying mantis. With a shrill shriek and a chattering of his pincers, Flik slashed wildly at Natsu, who did his best to defend himself. The attacks were furious, delivered only fractions of a second apart from one another. Happy tried his evasive maneuvers as best he could, but Natsu was still left with multiple deep gashes. His body was getting more sliced up by the second.

"Pull back, Happy! I need to counterattack!" Happy managed to draw Natsu out of the line of fire, before rushing back in, Natsu leading the charge with a defiant roar. "Fire Dragon…"

"Insect form technique! Stag beetle!"

"Iron Fist! Gaahh!" Natsu finished lamely as his punch glanced easily off Flik's new armor-like shell. Flik's body, newly buffed up, was now encased in a suit of insectoid armor, and a large three-foot-long forked horn jutted out from his forehead.

Flik grinned evilly and smashed his horn into Natsu's side. He and Happy were sent flying and barely righted themselves before crashing into one of the ship's towers. "Haha! My diversity springs from the entirety of the insectile race! I can't be bested!"

Natsu's eyebrow twitched. "Oh yeah? Fire Dragon… Brilliant Flame!"

When the flames cleared, Natsu was stunned to see that Flik was unharmed. Not only was he unharmed, but… he was now a large cockroach curled into a ball.

Flik uncurled from his ball and morphed back into his normal form. "My cockroach form is incredibly resistant to attacks. Now… Insect form! Dragonfly jet!" A pair of fast-moving, gossamer wings appeared on Flik's back. He immediately began to zoom around at blinding speeds. Natsu couldn't possibly keep up with him. Flik spun circles around Natsu, landing blow after blow after blow on his body. Natsu was powerless to move. Flik backed up, and his wings started releasing powerful sonic booms. Each one battered Natsu's body harder than the last. He felt one of his bones break.

Flik cackled maniacally again. "Yessss… yes… no one will ever know my true hideous form! No one will see the monster I've become!"

Natsu gasped, trying to fit his words in between the spasms of pain throughout his body. "How… how did you get… like that?"

"How did I become an abomination of nature? Well, I believe it was the result of a dark guild's experimentation upon my body! They made me part-human, part insect! Oh, great power, sure… but I was to be forever cast out of society, forever shunned because of what I looked like. My own wife would never speak to me again…" Tears were starting to form in his compound eyes. "No one would! Not until I came to Hydra Claw! They accepted me for who I am! They _respected_ my newfound power! Grant teamed up with me not because I was some freaky bug, but because he wanted to be my friend! That's why I have to prove my loyalty to my guild! That's why I have to crush you Fairies into the dirt!"

Natsu had a solemn look on his face. "So you think you're a monster, huh?"

"Of course, you dolt! Do you have eyes?"

Natsu grinned and flashed a peace sign. "Really? 'Cuz I think you look kinda cool!"

"Aye!" Happy chorused.

Flik's jaw dropped. His wings faded, and his attacks ceased. The tears that were in his eyes started to fall. "You… you really think so?"

Natsu grinned and punched him right in the gut. "'Course I do," he explained matter-of-factly. "I'm a dragon. And dragons versus monsters always make for the _coolest _fights. I'm all fired up!" Natsu ignored the pain of the stings on his hand and forced it to ignite. He and Flik descended as part of a raging fireball towards the hull below.

On the deck below, the Thunder Legion was having a tough time. None of their attacks landed on the guy. Evergreen's fairy blasts were all tasty snacks for Maw. Bickslow had to be extra careful with his sprits- he couldn't risk another one of them disappearing down that monstrosity's gullet. And Freed's enchantments just weren't able to stick around- Maw could eat all of them. In fact, they all got the impression Maw could've taken them out already if he'd wanted to, but he was letting them attack him because they were providing him with so much free food.

"Evergreen! Can't you turn him to stone?" Bickslow inquired. _"Stone! Stone!"_

"No! His eyes are too small and beady! I doubt he can even really see us!"

"Oh, how I wish Laxus was here!" Freed said with a needy-fangirl pose.

"Get a grip, Freed! Come on! The Thunder Legion shouldn't give up at a time like this!" Bickslow roared. "Evergreen! Maybe you can seduce him?" _"Seduce him!"_

"WHAT?" She roared back.

"Maybe you can just pretend he's Elfman. He's got roughly the same body type," Freed said, giggling uncontrollably.

Evergreen's face turned red as a tomato from embarrassment and anger. "I swear, when we get out of this, I'm gong to…"

Maw interrupted their banter. "I'm STILL HUNGRY!" he boomed. The massive mouth man raised his beefy arm to swat them aside like bowling pins. However, before he could strike, the entire hull rocked with a massive force that knocked everyone there right off their feet.

Freed stumbled to his feet first to see Natsu emerging from the wreckage, standing over a man with… oh. Best not to look too closely at that. Natsu was covered head to toe in countless bruises, stings, cuts, scratches, blisters, and scars, but the grin on his face couldn't be wider. "Oh, man, that was awesome! I just beat a bug that could turn into a man!"

"…I think it was was the other way around, Natsu," said Happy, also emerging from the wreckage.

"Ah, shut up! Don't start this again! This is just like when you said that cross-dressing time guy was actually a girl!"

Everyone facepalmed.

"NO ONE INTERRUPTS MAW'S MEAL! MAW ANGRY!" the galoot had finally gotten back up.

Natsu turned around. "Aw yeah, I get to fight Mouth Guy next? This is my lucky day, Happy! Fire Dragon… Roooooar!"

The stream of flames erupted from Natsu's mouth and went right back into Maw's. "Hmmm… now that's spicy! I wanna try your trick!" Maw leaned forward and, to everyone's dismay, he released his own Fire Dragon Roar right back at Natsu with double the intensity. Natsu, of course, sucked it right back up.

"Alright! No one's been able to compete with me in a FIRE eating contest before!" Natsu yelled and released it back to Maw. The intensity had doubled again.

Thus begun a strange game of hot potato, as the flames were passed back and forth in rapid succession. Those witness to the scene ran back and forth, trying not to become the monkey in the middle. Of course, every time the flame was roared back, it doubled in intensity.

"This is the weirdest fight ever!" Happy shouted frantically.

Natsu grimaced in pain from trying to absorb the next blast. The inferno had grown so large, his stomach visibly jutted out two feet in front of him. "Oh, man! NOW I've got a fire in my belly!"

Natsu's next Fire Dragon Roar should have been renamed "Fire Dragon Apocalypse."

Maw tried and tried to suck up the flames, but although his massive mouth could suck them up extremely quickly, there was only so much space his belly could contain, and he'd already spent the last hour eating nonstop. Try as he might, he could not completely stomach the flames Natsu breathed on him.

When the inferno cleared, Maw had collapsed on the ship's deck. His body began to shimmer, and was quickly replaced by a much smaller body- that of a frail old man. His clothes were dirty and ragged, those of a street beggar.

"So… the transformation spell was broken, huh? Fitting…"

"Wow… and we barely even did anything…" Freed muttered to himself in disgust."

"I just wanted a… bite to eat…" he rasped.

"Now where's the power source?" Natsu asked. Everyone sweatdropped. _He's not even fazed…_

"Well, actually… there's something very important for us to attend to right now," Freed explained. "We've got to check the-"

Before he could finish his sentence, there was a primordial hiss, accompanied by the grating sound of uncoiling metal. From each of the towers emerged hydra heads, two from where there had been just one before. The heads glared at the wizards balefully.

"…Towers," Freed finished.

**Natsu can really be such a beast sometimes, it's insane. Anyways, I really hope you liked this chapter. Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day.**


	21. Equal Matches

**Hey guys! I am sososososo sorry for not updating sooner! I have been SWAMPED this week with schoolwork and the lot, and this weekend I am in Chicago for a wedding, the marathon, and college tours, so I basically have no time for not having a life. It sucks. However, I did manage to squeeze the time in to write this so I could at least get SOMETHING out on the weekend. I really hope you guys enjoy!**

**Notice: Don't own Fairy Tail. Don't want to make money off of it. Don't sue me.**

* * *

Chapter 21: Equal Matches

Chunks of raw and purified earth were flying through the air. The brawl between the iron and earth dragonslayers was carving a hole deep into the ground; the initial crater that had been created by Gajeel and Grant's crash grew larger and larger by the second. Now they fought in a giant tunnel that led deep underground, which had been formed by the very nature of Grant's magic. He heaved up boulder after boulder to toss at Gajeel, and every time he did so, there was less and less dirt left in the ground beneath their feet.

Gajeel himself was being worn down just like the earth. Normally he prided himself on his iron's incredible defensive ability, but his opponent's stamina blew his out of the water. Grant had literally dug in to the earth; his ankles were implanted several feet into the ground. Every physical blow Gajeel threw at him to try and knock him down glanced harmlessly off his brawny hide. All his attempts at a stronger attack, like an Iron Dragon Roar, were quickly blocked by a wall of earth. Gajeel, however, wasn't so lucky. He was forced to dodge all these flying boulders- and he wasn't able to dodge _all_ of them. He already had some nasty bruises and chipped bones.

_Come on, Gajeel, what are you doing? What's wrong with you? Pound this guy so you can get back to pounding Salamander!_

The iron dragonslayer bellowed and charged Grant with two Iron Dragon Claws. Grant swatted them aside easily with the side of his arm. "Earth Dragon's…" He then brought his crushing fist down on Gajeel's forehead and slammed him into the dirt. "Skullcracker!"

Gajeel coughed up dirt and blood, struggling to get up at Grant's feet. "You… dirty bastard…"

Grant scowled. "Dirty, am I? I suppose you're no different from the others, even if you are a dragonslayer…"

Shaking, Gajeel pushed himself up to his knees. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?" He gasped in pain when Grant kicked him in the ribs.

"Stay down!" Grant scolded. His foot returned to the earth. "You can't beat me anyway. As long as my Earth Dragon's Roots are implanted, I am immovable. Just stay down there on the ground. Then _you'll_ be the dirty one."

Gajeel grunted and shoved himself to his knees again. "I don't know what you're talking about, but then again, I don't really care. I'm gonna make you suffer. I'm gonna pound you so hard that you'll never even wanna _hear_ the name Fairy Tail!" He slashed weakly at Grant's legs. His sword-arm didn't even scratch Grant's bulging muscles. Grant kicked him in the face, and then started hammering Gajeel's back with two-ton punches.

"You. Are. So. Arrogant," Grant snarled in between punches. "You're just like every other self-centered bastard who looked down on me because of my appearance. You're going to make me suffer? You don't even know what the meaning of suffering is! I'll teach it to you! I'll carve the definition on your back with your blood!"

Grant's next punch halted before it could reach Gajeel's body. The reason being, of course, that Gajeel stopped it with his own Iron Dragon Claw.

"Something I taught Pantherlily a while ago," Gajeel panted, "Is that iron's strength is determined by the conviction of the person who wields it. Earth is strong, but its strength is constant, inelastic. Iron is pure. It adapts and molds with the person who wields it with conviction." Gajeel, trembling with pain, pushed himself to his feet. He was wobbling, swaying- but he was more confident with before. He chuckled to himself gleefully, thinking of what he was about to do.

Grant scowled deeper. "That's very nice inspiration, of course, but I don't-" His sentence was cut short by the loss of air he received after Gajeel punched him in the gut. Gajeel had punched him with his bare fist. Grant's rock-hard abs should have deflected the blow easily. Hell, Gajeel's knuckles should probably be bruised. But instead, there was Grant, lying on his back, winded, both his roots and pride broken.

When Grant got back to his feet, Gajeel had a maniacal smile on his face. "You wanna play, dirty boy? I'll show you the real strength of refined earth!"

Grant's expression contorted into one of pure rage. "You _STILL_ dare to call me that? I will crush your bones into the dirt! Earth Dragon's Terrafists!"

Huge chunks of earth flew out of the earth and began swirling around Grant. They attached themselves all over his arms, coating them in a thick layer of stone fist-like weapons. Other pieces came and covered his body in an interlocking pattern, which formed some kind of armor.

Gajeel grinned and concentrated. His own body became coated in his favorite Iron Dragon Scales. "So it's a defense-focused brawl, is it? Let me see what you got!"

"You'll never out-defend me!" Grant roared.

And so they fought. Grant was the stronger, tougher one, but his earthen armor made him much slower, while Gajeel's scales were simply a different form of his body, so he could move just fine. Gajeel darted around Grant, pummeling him with attacks, but seemed unable to do any lasting noticeable damage. Grant's fists were slow, but when the connected, they hit _hard_. Gajeel's body made a crater in the side of the tunnel every time he was hit. But he just got right back up and kept on fighting.

Of course, all the while, the tunnel in which they fought grew ever deeper.

Both sides slowly but surely wore themselves down. As the sun climbed higher in the sky, and the two dragonslayers descended lower into the earth, the combatants' armor cracked and corroded from the weight of the blows. Neither side would give up while the other continued to fight on.

Finally, with one final punch, both of their armors shattered at the same time, and they both collapsed to the ground in absolute exhaustion. They were at least thirty feet beneath the surface of the earth.

Gajeel lay on his back, staring at the coming sunlight he could barely see. He heard Grant's voice. "You know, Gajeel, you're all right."

Gajeel grunted back.

* * *

Mira grimaced when she turned back to see how Lucy was doing. Not good. A horde of silver wolves surrounded her, snapping at her heels. The pack was only barely held back by Taurus' mighty axe. Mira then knelt down to check on Lisanna. She wasn't doing too well. Her pulse was uneven and weak, and her skin was cold where she'd been hit by Fenra's silver magic blast. The moon-like magic orb that Fenra had placed in the corner of the corridor still bathed the tunnel in an eerie silver glow, but in the shadows beyond the orb's light, she could hear Elfman fighting Fenra. Mira wanted so badly to go help Lucy or her little brother, but right now she had to make sure to tend to Lisanna's wounds.

Suddenly Elfman came flying out of the shadows, his Beast Soul form slowly morphing back to his regular body. Mira saw with horror that Elfman had been terribly ravaged by some sort of claws. He was bleeding heavily through his chest.

The young blond girl stepped into the light. "I believe it's your turn next, Ms. Mirajane."

Mira didn't want to let all her power loose- she was still in the presence of three of her fellow guildmates, and she didn't want to end up hurting them by accident. But the gauntlet had been cast. This little girl had just hurt her little siblings, and no big sister worth their salt would take that lying down.

Mira felt power rush through her body as she felt her demon form take over. Mira didn't hold back any of her power. No messing around with the Satan Soul or Halphas. She went straight for the Sitri. Now, she was used to everything she touched blowing up when she used this form's unimaginable power. She wasn't used to a large werewolf blocking her attack with oversized shaggy claws.

Fenra's voice came as a low growl from the werewolf's mouth. "You think you're the only one who can use takeover magic? I'm the strongest takeover wizard in the entire world!"

A blast of silver magic energy knocked Mirajane off her feet. No one, and she meant _no one,_ had _ever_ been able to do that to Mira's Sitri Soul. It was her strongest form for a reason. But the power Mira sensed coming from Fenra's own takeover form was unlike anything else Mira had ever seen.

Mira's head cleared when she heard Lucy scream. _I don't have much time._ I've got to do this quickly.

She launched herself at the werewolf again, and again the werewolf blocked Mira's strike and retaliated with a powerful blast of silver magic. "I draw my power from the moon," Fenra boasted. "You won't be able to defeat me."

As Mira continued to fight, she wondered about what Fenra said. Power from the moon? But it's dawn. How could you be getting lunar power at this point?

Her eyes were drawn to the giant silver orb in the corner of the corridor. Of course. She had a plan.

"You know, that village probably deserved to be destroyed," Mira teased. "It was really dirty. Probably full of prostitutes."

Fenra's wolfish face twisted. "WHAT did you say? I knew you people in Fairy Tail were horrible, but never-"

"And the guys were just as bad," Lucy chimed in. Perhaps she had also realized Mira's plan. Or at the very least, she just hoped Mira had one. The thing is, though, Mira didn't really have a plan. She was just trying to distract Fenra to buy time. "They were always dirty and smelly," Lucy continued. "Never showered. Greasy, dirty and slimy. Who knows, maybe destroying the village actually was part of the job and not a side effect!"

"That's it! I'm going to make you all pay for saying such horribly disrespectful things about my village! Lunar Epsilon Starblast!"

A thousand streams of concentrated silver magic energy sprung from the "moon" and pummeled Mira and Lucy relentlessly. Despite the cold pain, Mira kept insulting Fenra's path, inciting her anger more and more. Fenra's screams of anguish filled the halls, joined by Mira and Lucy's screams of pain.

When the moon-orb burst, nobody could see for a couple seconds. The explosion was too bright.

When Lucy's vision cleared, she saw a triumphant Mira standing over a defeated Fenra, in her normal little-girl form.

"You…" Fenra squeaked. "You tricked me…"

Mira turned back into her usual lovely form. "Yes, I'm so sorry. I didn't want to insult the memory of your village like that, but I had to. The weakness of lunar magic is that its user must always remain calm and serene, and by invoking your anger I broke the spell that gave you your power."

"Why are you apologizing? We're enemies!" Fenra protested.

Mira placed a hand on Fenra's forehead. "Maybe, but we also have a lot in common. We both struggle with our inner demons. And I am truly sorry for what happened to your village. I don't know if we can ever repay you."

"You can repay us," came a familiar voice, "With your lives!"

Mira looked upward at who emerged from around the corner and immediately turned the shade of a beet.

It was Ezra Mathin.

**I hope you guys liked this chapter! Again, so sorry for not updating sooner. Hope you have a great day!**


	22. Contracted to Cruelty

**AN: Hey guys! Warning: this chapter gets pretty intense. This part is definitely rated T. I hope this doesn't reveal any hidden psychopathic killer traits in me..**.

**Notice: I'm not Hiro Mashima, and I don't own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

Chapter 22: Contracted to Cruelty

Fairy Tail was locked in battle with a giant magical/mechanical hybrid hydra.

And it was losing.

The heads were each about twenty feet in diameter. Their mottled green metal scales seemed to be imbued with some kind of defensive enchantment that gave it immense resistance to magical attacks. The heads reared about, snapping and thrashing at the guild members assembled on the deck, spitting searing green acid that steamed and corroded the metal of the deck. Anyone with the misfortune to be hit by that acid was collapsed on the deck, writhing from the agony of searing flesh burns. So far, that included Droy, Macao and Warren.

Fairy Tail was doing its best to fight back, of course. Wakaba was avenging his fallen friend, batting away snake heads with jabs of smoke. Romeo kept Natsu supplied on flames, who was flying around the heads with Happy trying to bust through the heads' hide. Jet darted to and fro, trying to confuse and entangle the hydra heads. Levy was furiously reading to try and figure out what kind of weakness this magic might have. Reedus created various pictomagics to try and help out. Max was on defensive duty, putting up walls of sand to try and protect the others from the hydra's attacks. Pantherlily had arrived and was slicing away at the scales, though his sword didn't leave many scratches. And of course the Thunder Legion was trying to make up for their embarrassing uselessness against Maw. Freed set up defensive enchantments and pummeled away with his demon form. Bixlo's spirits blasted away at the side of the hydra, which left some noticeable dents. And even though Evergreen's attacks didn't do much damage to the beast's hide, she still kept everyone in order by bossing them around.

Despite Fairy Tail's combined efforts, not even one of the hydra heads had yet been felled. And more of the guild members were being incapacitated by the minute.

* * *

The walls of the tunnel shook as Erza and Nath clashed. This was not simply a battle between two guilds; this was a battle between two states of thinking, two great ways of life, two favorite sweets. The ground rumbled. The heavens roared.

"For cake!" Erza, currently cloaked in her Sea Empress Armor, screamed in outrage as she sliced furiously at Nath, who fought back irately with a similar cry: "For cookies!"

"This fight is very… strange," Wendy, who was standing over on the side watching the carnage, mumbled meekly.

"Honestly, child," Carla scolded Wendy. "I don't know why you hang around these hooligans."

Nath raised both his hands and pointed them at Erza. "Disc magic! Serrated sonic discs!" Dozens of light blue circular discs shot out of the mechanisms installed in his wrists, pummeling Erza's body with bursts of blue light. She screamed in pain and pulled back slightly to regroup.

Nath had other ideas for her, however. He advanced, firing volley after volley of discs at Erza's body with a stoic grin on his face. "Yes! Yield before the might of perfect circles!"

"Never!" Erza snarled and requipped into her Lightning Empress Armor. She ran up towards Nath, faked a strike, and then pulled off to the side, and let loose a blast of lightning at close range.

Nath staggered backward, the lightning circulating through his circular-constructed armor. "Pain Refraction Armor…" he gasped. "Reflector Ray!" He spread his arms wide and let loose the blast of lightning right back at Erza, this time doubled in strength.

Erza's armor helped her to absorb the blast, but it was still quite painful. Nath grinned at her arrogantly. "You… see? Never… underestimate the power… of cookies."

That set Erza off again. "How dare you! Repent for your sins! I shall make you pay dearly for my comrades' blood, and even more dearly for your poor choice of sweets!"

She requipped into her signature red sarashi outfit, and summoned her ancient Crimson Cherry sword. She leapt at Nath again, slashing furiously, and it was all he could do to defend himself from her all-out attacks. Nath attempted a counterattack, but Erza dodged and requipped into the Robe of Yuen. When Nath struck at her face with his fist, he found it blocked by a large hammer that glowed with magic power.

The Holy Hammer smashed Nath's face into the wall. He didn't get up.

Erza's rage was now out of control. Wendy and Carla stared at her in terrified awe as Erza unlocked her second origin.

Erza was now wearing her Nakagami Armor.

"Die, you cur!" Erza screamed in her ultimate rage. But just as she raised her sword to strike, a familiar voice boomed behind her.

"Now, now, my dear, I think he's had enough."

* * *

Erza turned around and saw Ezra Mathin's face projected on a lacrima vision monitor, still devoid of his usual devilish smirk. Not that she cared whether that bastard was happy or not. Of course not.

"Ezra. Come. Fight. Me. Now."

"Tsk tsk, Erza. I think I'm the one who's currently in the position to make demands."

The lacrima vision zoomed out to reveal four figures in the background. Erza gasped in horror, and felt her Nakagami Armor disappearing.

Ezra was standing in what appeared to be a combination throne room and boiler room. It was spacious and magnanimous, with a red carpet leading up to a large golden throne at the back of the room. The throne was empty. Behind the throne was a huge assortment of pistons, gears, levers and other machinery that no doubt powered the warship. Chained to the wall directly behind where Ezra stood were Lucy, Lisanna, Elfman and Mira. Carla gasped and put a paw over Wendy's eyes.

Lisanna didn't actually look too worse for wear, she was just unconscious. Elfman was covered in some nasty scratches, but he looked fine for the most part. But the state of Lucy and Mirajane was unforgivable. They'd been stripped down to nothing, and visibly beaten cruelly.

Erza felt her hands shaking with the most fervent wrath imaginable. "Ezra…" she croaked. "How… how could you-"

Ezra rammed his fist into Mirajane's stomach, and her cry rang out loud and crisp through the lacrima vision monitor. "Don't talk," he said. "Just surrender. You, the little girl, and the cat. Stand down and surrender to Nath."

Nath was getting up again. "Should I activate the teleporter, boss?"

Ezra nodded, then directed his gaze towards Erza. "Understand that if you resist, I won't stop at just these people."

Erza couldn't imagine how she could possibly control her rage, but she had to. She couldn't allow her comrades to be abused any more than they already had. _How the hell could you do this, Ezra? I thought you weren't _part_ of a dark guild. Why are you so indebted to your guild that you would do such horrible things in its name?_

Erza, Wendy and Carla surrendered to Nath, who flipped a hidden switch on the wall. They were transported into the same room where Ezra was. Erza swallowed the tide of bile that threatened to surface when she saw Lucy and Mira.

Ezra was standing ten feet in front of her. His brown cloak was gone, but his expression was still melancholy. "Nath, bind them," he ordered.

Once Erza had been chained to the wall, her building emotion surpassed her self-restraint. "How could you, Ezra?"

Ezra turned his head. "I beg your pardon?"

Erza spoke without thinking. "How could you be so cruel? How could you do this to people who gave you room and board? How could you do this to another fellow guild? How could you? You know, I-" she sobbed and gasped for breath. "I actually loved you! I thought you and I could have a happy future! I thought I'd found somebody who not only could _I _protect, but could also protect _me_! You abused my trust, you lied to me to send Master and Gildarts who knows where, and you beat and degraded my fellow guildmates! You're despicable! Unforgivable! And all because of your perversely unwavering loyalty to a corrupt guild! You're a horrible person, an empty shell of a man! I hate you!"

Ezra lowered his head. "I know."

Erza started. "What?"

"You're right," he replied. "I am a horrible person. I'm an empty husk with no soul, just a helpless debtor with no way of paying back."

He looked up, and his face was taken up by an expression of unadulterated anger. "I know this is wrong! But I have no other choice!" He stood there in silence for a minute, then continued. "When I was young, I did something unforgivable. The guildmaster of Hydra Claw found me on the same night, and told me he could save me from the retribution of my crime if I served under him for the guild, obeyed his every command. He said that if I were strong enough, and did enough good, then someday my horrible deed would be undone. I was bound into it by the most powerful of binding contract magics. If the master thinks that destroying Fairy Tail constitutes a good deed, then that is what I must do."

Erza glared at him. "You'd really do all this just for a promise? Were you really bound to do such specifically cruel things? You're a coward."

Ezra didn't reply in words. He appeared to be struggling to move. Slowly, he walked over and sliced Erza's chains., then walked back and finally turned to face her.

"Fight me," he pleaded. "Please, kill me. If you do, then you'll be able to save your guild. Please, you have to release me from this contract."

Erza didn't have to be told twice. She drew her blade and charged.

* * *

In a nearby miniature dimension, the two strongest Fairy Tail wizards succumbed to the inevitable.

**I really hope that wasn't too much for anybody. I hope you guys enjoyed it! Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time. Have an awesome day!**


	23. Erza vs Ezra

**AN: Hey guys! Got another chapter here for ya. Hope you all like it, cuz I really enjoyed writing it! As always, any reviews, follows, favorites, whatever are very much appreciated. Enjoy!**

**Notice: I'm not Hiro Mashima, and therefore don't own Fairy Tail.**

Chapter 23: Erza vs. Ezra

The fight was finally over. Masud was gone. Gildarts and Makarov lay strewn about in the private coliseum like rag dolls, their magic energy drained, their pride wounded.

"Makarov…" Gildarts whispered weakly. "Is this… the end of Fairy Tail?"

"No, Gildarts. If there's one thing I know about this guild, it's that the more the odds are stacked against my children, the more likely they are to prevail in the end," the old man replied.

Gildarts chuckled. "You sure have a lot of confidence in these kids."

"Not confidence. Merely observation."

* * *

Ezra didn't react to Erza's first strike. He flew backwards into the wall, with a nasty gash left on his right shoulder. As he struggled to his feet, a voice escaped from his mouth, but it was not his own.

"_Fool. Why did you release the girl? Kill her now before she ruins the plan!"_ With Ezra's words, a thick black smoke streamed from his mouth. His eyes glazed over, and his facial features sharpened. His mouth formed a demonic version of his characteristic grin.

Erza gasped. "Ezra, what's happening to you?"

Ezra's long, pointed tongue slowly licked his lips. "Oh, don't you know? I'm Ezra's true form. You'll learn to fear me properly like the others soon enough."

Nath was backed up against the opposite wall, trembling in fear. "Wh-wh-what have you done?" his voice quivered. "Now we're _all_ in for it. No one in this _town_ will survive this day!"

And truly, Nath had reason to fear. Ezra's already impressive magic power had skyrocketed. The walls cracked a little bit just by being near him. The force was akin to what Erza had experienced when she fought Master Hades.

Ezra snarled and attacked. Bursts of fire erupted from the bottom of his boots, propelling him toward Erza at blindingly fast speed. He struck at her with a long knife he had conjured. Even though she parried, the force of his strike sliced right through her blade and left a scar on her left cheek.

Ezra floated up to the roof of the room. Jets of fire were streaming from the bottom of his boots, keeping him aloft. "How are you doing that?" Erza demanded.

"Sparky makes the best toys," he replied maliciously. He pulled out a small, black, round object and dropped it onto the floor. Smoke billowed up and engulfed the room in darkness. In the fog, Ezra lashed out at her from all sides. Erza was powerless to defend herself against her unseen enemy.

She managed to requip into her Blackwing armor and blow away the smoke. _Remember who you're fighting for,_ she told herself. _You can't afford to lose._ She lashed out at Ezra with a cry, slicing and chopping away at him, putting him on the defensive. As long as he was on the defensive, Erza had a chance of victory.

She smashed him into the wall with her Holy Hammer. While Ezra was recovering from the blow, she requipped into her Heaven's Wheel armor and, struggling, summoned as many swords as she possibly could. When Ezra looked up, his face for a moment assumed an emotion other than demonic arrogance.

"Goodbye, Ezra."

There they flew- over one hundred swords, all primed to skewer one target.

"Body requip- blade slots!"

Ezra crouched slightly, and put his arms up with the back of his forearms facing Erza. His whole body shimmered, and all over his body appeared slits- slits perfectly shaped to fit the blades Erza had thrown at him. The blades all sunk into his body with an ominous _thunk_.

Ezra flexed his muscles, and the swords all clattered to the floor. Erza couldn't believe her eyes.

Ezra's maniacal laugh filled the chamber, while Wendy, Carla and Nath looked on in horror.

Ezra's body began to change in the same matter it had when she fought him before; sword blades erupted from all parts of his body, encasing him in a personal cage of sharpened steel. "You didn't honestly think you could beat _me_ with a bunch of _blades_, did you? I AM blades!"

The attack was the same as before. Ezra's Steel Whirlwind technique had defeated Erza before, when she hadn't already fought two powerful foes. There was no way Erza could stand up to it now. It was all she could do to remain standing during the barrage of attacks.

Ezra relented his attack after a minute. "So, how 'bout it, _Titania?_ You ready to surrender right about now? Before I finish cutting what remains of your life's thread?"

Erza gritted her teeth, but felt herself sink to her knees. "I will not lose to you. I will not allow my guild to be defeated!"

"Heh. I think I'm starting to get mixed signals here, my dear. I think I'd better show you a terrifying display of my full power!" He summoned a pair of long cutting knives with ornamental runes engraved on the side of them. "How fitting. These same knives inflicted these scars so long ago, and today they're going to reopen them."

He raised the knives to his face. "Second origin! Activate!"

He sliced the knives down right along his X-shaped scars. The scars and his eyes lit up a dark-tinged golden-brown. Dust and debris began swirling around Ezra's feet, and he lifted into the air. He attacked Erza with his bare hands, each of his fingers requipped into a knife. His blows drove her onto her back.

Ezra struck again and again, each spasm more vindictive than the last. Erza's screams rang all throughout the room. Ezra finally merged his arms into a huge double-bladed battle axe. "With this blow, I claim victory for myself. I claim victory for all of Hydra Claw!"

Then his body began to spasm and convulse violently. Ezra punched himself in the face several times. Erza was powerless to do anything except watch. The glow in Ezra's scars and eyes faded. His eyes were no longer glazed over.

"Hurry, Erza." It was back to Ezra's normal voice. "Kill me while I still have control."

"Ezra- you…"

"Shut up," Ezra pressed a blade into Erza's hands. "There's no time. Get it over with."

Erza couldn't stand up. _Remember who you're fighting for. The whole guild needs you. Remember what you told Gray. You have the entire force of Fairy Tail behind you._

With shaky legs, she stood, walked a few steps over to where Ezra lay, and then collapsed to her knees. She knelt over Ezra's body, splayed out before her. His body-requips had disappeared.

"Erza…" he croaked. "Please…"

Erza tried to swallow, but her throat was dry as a bone.

She raised the knife.

_You're the only one who isn't scared of me._

Why was she remembering that now? So what if Ezra had said that? It was just a lie, right?

Erza thought of Nath, cowering in the corner.

She thought of how Ezra had kissed her hand every time he saw her. She thought of his masterful good-natured swordplay. She thought of the enchanted chocolate, and Ezra's feeling he needed to get her to trust him. She thought of the enormous strawberry cake.

She thought of his devilish smile.

She dropped the knife. It clattered to the floor next to Ezra's body.

Instead of killing Ezra, she kissed him.

When she pulled away, she was gasping for breath. Her vision flickered. "I wanted to do that… just one more time."

"Erza… no, please- I'm begging you-"

"I could never kill you, Ezra. Never. I…"

Erza's eyes were already closed. She had already lost consciousness when Ezra's eyes flickered back to golden-brown.

Running through the hallways of the ship, following Kamarr's directions to the inner sanctum, Gray heard and recognized Erza's screams. He followed their chorus to the throne room. He busted down the door, and saw Nath cowering in the corner. He saw the Strauss siblings, Lucy, and Wendy chained up on the wall. He saw the pair kissing on the floor. He heard what Erza said.

He saw when Ezra's eyes returned to their golden-brown glow. He saw Ezra rip his shirt open, saw his rib bones become sword blades that jutted outward, that punctured Erza all over her body.

He heard a scream. It was his own.

**You like? Please let me know! This is one of those chapters that seems pretty easy to do badly, so I really hope you enjoyed it! Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful day. Thanks for reading!**


	24. Wrath of the Ice Mage

**Hey guys! Another chapter going up, and it's a doozy! You don't wanna miss this! Anyway, thank you, everyone who's been following so far. I really appreciate it. Not gonna detain you here much longer, I promise.**

* * *

Chapter 24: Wrath of the Ice Mage

Gray finally understood what it was like to be Natsu.

Well, okay, maybe just a little bit.

Rage coursed throughout his veins. His blood sizzled and boiled; the ground froze and cracked wherever he stepped. The temperature of the room dropped twenty degrees, as if Gray's furnace-like body was sucking up all the heat in the room. Frost formed on the walls as he stormed towards Ezra.

An enemy charged him from the side. Gray couldn't see who it was, but he was insignificant. Gray punched him in the face and kicked him as hard as he could in the groin. That annoying pest wouldn't be getting up any time soon.

Gray focused his attention again on the killer, the one who had hurt Erza. He didn't even recognize the killer by name any more. They didn't deserve that.

Gray felt his own magic power and might surge the more he thought about how angry he was. The more his magic power surged, the angrier he became.

A dimensional portal opened in front of Gray, and another figure stepped out of it, roaring triumphantly. "KNEEL BEFORE ME! I AM MASUD OF HYDRA CLAW! I AM CONQUEROR OF MAKAROV, SLAYER OF GILDARTS! I AM INVINCIBLE! I-"

His rant was abruptly cut off. It's hard to talk when you're frozen inside a block of ice.

Gray drew to within ten feet of the killer. He unclenched his fists, which he realized had been frozen in little balls of ice. Most everywhere on his body was freezing; his head and heart had sucked up all the heat to fuel his anger. In his hands grew a four-foot-long, double-edged broadsword made of ice.

"You," he spat, "Are going to pay in kind for what you did to Erza. If I were you, I'd kill myself right now while you still can."

The killer threw back his head and laughed for a good five seconds. "You ignorant fool! Your anger only masks your lover's grief. You don't have the power to defeat me, nor did you ever possess the courage to confess your feelings to the great _Titania._" He gestured to Erza's body on the floor behind him.

Gray grit his teeth. "Don't you dare speak her name, you son of a bitch. You don't deserve the right."

"Oh, come on, my boy," the killer cackled. "What's the big fuss about her anyway? Her swordsmanship was shoddy. I defeated her easily. Now, using her body was quite pleasurable, but besides that, I don't see much use there-"

Gray's attacks came without warning, rhyme, or reason; he had lost any and all forms of self-control. He sliced off Ezra's hand with one quick blow, then moved in closer and began cutting up Ezra's body. He kicked Ezra to the ground, and began slashing at his chest, again and again and again. When Ezra stopped moving, he planted the sword right in his chest.

"Erza is the best goddamn swordswoman ever," he spat as he turned around. "And don't you forget it."

"Oh, believe me, I won't. Now, I hope you're paying attention, because I wouldn't want _you_ to forget what I'm about to do to you."

Gray turned around, startled, to see Ezra pulling the sword out of his chest. His eyes and scars were glowing golden-brown. "H-how…"

"Did you really think a member of the Ten Wizard Saints would go down that easily, you fool? Did you really think your cheap ice-make replica could leave a dent on my body? You're even dumber than I thought." Ezra's severed hand transformed into a knife and reattached itself to Ezra's wrist.

Ezra's body once more began to undergo its signature transformation. Blades sprouted from all around his body, encasing him in a steel cage perfect for both offense and defense.

Ezra roared and launched into his Steel Whirlwind attack once more, circling around Gray with a barrage of strikes that ravaged his body. Gray put his arms up to shield, but where all his anger had been, there was now only sorrow. Ezra's words had finally sunk in. _You never had the courage to confess your feelings_.

It was true. Gray never did get to tell Erza how he felt. He wasn't sure whether that made him sad because she was gone forever, or angry at himself for never being able to do it. Maybe it was just plain painful. Or maybe that was just the barrage of blades cutting him to pieces.

Right. The blades. _Remember, the last thing you can do for Erza is to avenge her,_ he thought. _I _must_ beat this guy._

He recalled what had happened when Erza had faced this technique during their first duel. She had tried to escape the ring and then attack from the outside, the most logical and direct course of action. But Ezra had expected that, and was ready to block and then counterattack. This should be no different. Therefore, Gray needed another plan of attack.

What if Gray just attacked from the inside? Would that be possible? Would it even be possible to muster up enough concentration to cast even a single spell? It was worth a try.

Worth several tries, actually. It was several minutes before Gray was actually able to muster up the concentration to cast even a simple ice-make spell. By the end of it, he was sure his body was going to be completely diced soon enough. Better to act quickly.

"Ice-make floor!" Gray froze the ground into one big skating rink. His hunch had turned out to be right. As soon as the ground turned slippery, Ezra immediately lost the ability to run circles around Gray and tumbled to the floor on his back. Gray didn't waste any time taking advantage of the situation.

"Ice-make hammer!" The large hammer Gray brought down on Ezra's face not only shattered some of his blades, but also stunned him. "Ice-make lance! Ice-make saucer! Super freezing arrow!"

Gray found himself getting carried away with the barrage of attacks. His anger was building up again, but at the same time, his remaining magic power was dwindling. With his final attack, he left Ezra frozen to the wall.

Unfortunately, Ezra broke free of the ice easily. Grimacing, he appeared to at least be annoyed, if not severely wounded. "You little maggot," he spat. "It's about time I get around to squashing you."

Now Ezra hovered above the floor using some kind of rocket boots. The ice floor wasn't going to protect Gray against another whirlwind attack. He needed a plan, and so he hatched one.

When Ezra charged, Gray didn't wait to intercept. He charged back head-on.

Right before Ezra struck, Gray formed an ice-make replica of his body and dodged his real body to the side; while Ezra ravaged the statue, Gray prepared his trump spell.

Ezra didn't realize he'd been duped until he felt Gray's hand pressed to his back. "A little spell I learned from my old master, Ur," Gray explained. "It's called Super Cold Condenser. It can cause the atoms to be crunched so close together that it makes any substance extremely brittle, to the point of instant collapse. For instance… your body blades!"

This was it. Gray had beaten Ezra. He'd finally avenged what he'd done to Erza. Maybe she could rest in peace, and forgive him for not being there sooner.

All he had to do was cast the spell and Ezra would be defeated. This whole nightmare would be over. The guild would be safe.

Something wasn't right. Ezra wasn't saying anything. His hand was missing again.

Gray lost focus on the spell. It's kind of hard to keep it when a knife goes into your back unexpectedly.

Ezra turned around and waved his handless wrist at Gray. "I suppose I should thank you for mobilizing my hand," he boasted. "So many useful tricks I haven't thought of yet! At least you're good for something." He kicked Gray to the ground.

Gray gasped. That was it. He was out of magic power. He was going to die, here and now, and the guild would be destroyed. Everybody was going to die, and it was all his fault.

"I'm so sorry, Erza," he whispered. "I love you."

"Goodbye, scum," Ezra condemned him as he lowered his blade.

Gray could've sworn he heard Erza scream.

* * *

Fairy Tail's brawl with the hydra was interrupted as Romeo's young eyes noticed something streaking toward the warship.

"No, way. Is that-"

* * *

The ceiling of the throne room split open, and the entire ship was rocked with a dazzling golden light.

* * *

**DUN-DUN-DUN**

**Anyway, thanks so much for reading. Hope you all have a great day!**


	25. The Truth About Ezra Mathin

**AN: Hey everybody! Here's the climax hour chapter! Get pumped!**

**Notice: I don't own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

Chapter 25: The Truth About Ezra Mathin

Ezra swore and coughed up blood as he staggered to his feet. What was the meaning of this? He'd just beaten his last remaining enemy on the ship, was about to kill him… what had stopped him? Why was it so damn bright?

Gray struggled to raise his head, and when he did, he could not believe what he saw.

Standing over him, his long white cloak flapping in the wind, his hair as fresh and white as new-fallen snow, stood Sic. His body was wreathed in a membrane of golden-white light. He gazed calmly at the beaten and bruised Ezra.

"I don't know who you are," he said coolly, "But I know that you can't be forgiven for what's happened to this guild. I'd advise you surrender to me now."

Gray hoped Sic wouldn't notice Lucy tied to the wall, for the sake of everyone still in the room. He seemed so much more… _powerful_ than before. Was that Heavenly Body magic he was using?

Sic _had_ noticed Lucy. He wasn't sure how to react to it yet. The idea that anyone would possibly stoop so low, that anyone would think that was acceptable… It was unthinkable to him. He knew from his studies that for all intents and purposes he should be angry, but he also knew that in a difficult fight he had to keep himself focused and keep his emotions at bay. Fortunately for Sic, that was significantly easier for him than for anyone else.

Ezra's long tongue was clearly visible as he laughed maniacally. "Oh, really? You got me shaking in my boots. You see what happened to the last two people who said something like that to me?" He gestured to Erza and Gray. "You Fairies are all the same- nothing but a bunch of weaklings. Sure, some of your women are nice to look at-"

Sic didn't know what came over him, but all control he had over his emotions melted away. There was the red-hot hand gripping his heart- and it told him this man needed to be killed. "Heavenly Body magic- Meteor!"

Sic jutted forward into the air at blinding speed, propelled by the magic power of the cosmos. His brother Jellal had taught him well. He darted around Ezra, popping him with several blows per second. Ezra crumpled at first, but soon lashed out and drove Sic back.

"You think you're the only one with a combination attack?" Ezra's body, once again, began to form Steel Whirlwind. "Get ready to be sliced and diced!"

_Time for a conjunction move,_ Sic thought. He concentrated on harnessing the speed obtained from the Meteor spell, then harnessed it and channeled it into a spell that normally would be relatively slow and unwieldy.

He dodged Ezra's Whirlwind attack with ease, and replied with a super-speed version of one of his more powerful spells. "Regulus Impact!" The enormous lion that sprouted from his fists shattered Ezra's body's blades all at once, and sent him sprawling onto the floor.

Ezra struggled to his feet. He was in shambles. His shirt had been completely blasted to shreds, and random chunks of his body were missing where his body's blades had been destroyed. He was bleeding from a deep cut under his lip. Blood trickled out from the golden glow of his facial scars. He definitely shouldn't have been able to stand, but some force seemed to animate his body.

"I- I _cannot_ be defeated! I am Ezra Mathin of the Ten Wizard Saints!"

Sic grimaced and blasted Ezra in the chest with a ray of pure white light. "How many times do I have to knock you down?"

Ezra coughed up more blood and staggered to his feet once again. "No amount of times will be sufficient."

Sic knocked him down again and again, and each time Ezra struggled to his feet once more, slightly more battered than before. His fights with Erza and Gray had taken their toll, and he was in no shape to take on the Paladin of Light.

Sic's next attack was particularly vicious. He flung Ezra into the air, and repeatedly pummeled his body against the ceiling with bursts of cosmic light. He started to let all of his bottled anger filter into his attacks. He remembered what Lucy looked like chained to the wall, and his light intensified.

Suddenly the ceiling exploded again, sending Ezra hurdling to the ground. But he got up much faster than he had before. His entire body was now encloaked in golden-brown light. The voice that emerged from his mouth was not his own.

_Foolish human,_ it said. _Now you've forced me to use my own power. I will unlock the full potential of this pathetic human body!_

Ezra's skin split open, and a huge burst of golden-brown obscured Sic's view. When the burst cleared, Sic stopped to wipe his eyes. Ezra was no longer there.

Instead, there floated a six-foot-long sword, its point towards the ceiling. Its blade was carved with all sorts of glowing magical runes, the most noticeable of which was simply a golden X. The blade was jagged and curvy, with multiple serifs curling outward from the edges. The guard and handle were huge, ornately crafted, and studded with jewels.

_The ultimate bodily requip,_ said the voice. _A full-body weapon takeover._

The sword moved to slash at Sic, who jumped back and barely avoided the blade's strike. Where the blade touched the floor, it sliced through so easily it may as well have not been there at all.

Sic attacked back, but his light burst just glanced off the side of the blade. The blade made a screeching noise that sounded like laughter. _You think you can stop an inanimate object by inflicting it pain? I no longer possess any sort of mind, body, or soul!_

"That's not true."

_What?_

"I'm of the opinion that weapons can in fact hold souls. In fact, let me show you!" Sic placed his right hand over his heart, and slowly drew it outwards from his chest. "Soul sword of Sic- I invoke you! Come forth, Canvas!" In the space between his hand and chest, a white light began to glow. Eventually, an observer would have realized that Sic was actually pulling something out of his chest. When he was finished, he was holding his own six-foot-long sword.

The sword was made of a swirling, white mist-like substance that only solidified when you focused your eyes on it. It was plain and simple, no ornate carvings, no fancy magic runes.

"As the Paladin of Light, this is my own special technique. I give people's souls manifestation, in the form of an ultimate weapon. I can only do this, however, if I know the weapon's true name. Now, since the weapon is a manifestation of one's soul, it follows that I'd need to know someone inside and out to know their soul's name. It took me this long to understand myself enough to be able to call forth my own. So, stand back and witness the power of my soul-sword- Canvas!"

_What an absurd name. That puny relic will not stop me from destroying you._

"Didn't I just tell you? This sword's name is the most important part! Just like me, this sword is a blank canvas- one which I can draw on with whatever I wish. And you know what? I choose to paint that canvas with the holy cleansing light of justice!"

Everywhere, the air turned white. To everyone but Sic, any miniscule portion of air was indistinguishable from the rest. But in the never ending white, Sic saw a palette of hues- an infinite rainbow of emotion.

One slash, and Ezra's body lay on the ground, unmoving, his soul severed from his sword form.

Sic stood over Ezra's body, and raised his divine sword to finish the job. It would finally be all over.

A voice from behind the throne snatched Sic's attention. Peeking out from behind the throne was a little girl. She couldn't have been more than ten years old. She wore miniature overalls over a white blouse streaked with oil and grime. Her head was covered in long, greasy blond hair, pushed back behind aviator goggles.

"M-mister," she whimpered. "Please don't kill my big brother…"

Ezra's rasping voice at his feet murmured, "Sparky… get out of here… please…"

Sic made his decision quickly, without thinking. He pressed his soul-blade back into his chest, causing it to disappear entirely. This man had been defeated, but he didn't need to be killed. Sic promised himself that he would make sure he survived to see his sister again.

Unfortunately, when Ezra saw Sic's blade disappear, he quit his acting and got up, starting to pummel Sic with the last vestiges of his power. Sparky cried out in shock; Sic cried out in pain. He withdrew to regroup, but he knew he couldn't bring himself to put an end to this bastard's life while his little sister was still relying on him. Unfortunately, that seemed to be the _only_ option at this point.

No. Sic needed to remember what he learned from Lucy. Sometimes the correct answer wasn't the most direct or logical one. Sometimes one needed to trust their instincts and emotions more than cold logic.

He stepped further back, and drew his twin broadswords, holding them up in a defensive stance. At a loss for words, he felt himself repeating the same words he'd spoken in a similar position all those years ago: "Whoever you are, I won't fight you. But I _will_ defend myself."

To Sic's surprise, Ezra's knees buckled. The glow in his eyes faded, revealing tears. "Th-those words… Those swords… Your face…"

Sic noticed the other voice was gone. "What? What are you talking about?"

"It… It can't be… I thought I… Is that you, Sic?"

Sic's jaw dropped open, and he dropped his swords.

"I mean, I know it can't be, because I killed you all those years ago… There's no way it could really be you…" His tears began to spill onto the ground. "Both of my brothers are lost forever…"

Sic's own eyes were brimming with tears. "I don't believe it… Azer?"

Ezra's face formed into a sad smile. "It _is_ you. You never could get my name right. Does that mean that… all these years I spent with Hydra Claw have been for nothing? Did I ever really commit that awful crime?"

Sic knelt on the ground and hugged his brother for the first time since that night when his life had been ruined. "I don't care, as long as you're here with me now."

_Foolish mortal._

Ezra's eyes were once again glowing golden-brown. He shoved Sic off him and rose back to his full height. Sic lay there on the ground, his current emotional state too fragile and befuddled to think clearly.

Ezra roared as he summoned every blade from within his crumbling body and pointed them all at Sic. _I will destroy every last vestige of hope this feeble body has, so he will never again. Then I will control this imperfect body completely, and finally destroy your pathetic guild once and for all!_

Sic wanted to close his eyes and give up, but couldn't. All he could do was stare wide-eyed at his impending doom.

"No. I won't let you."

That was his voice, Ezra's voice. The real Ezra. Sic's big brother. Not his possessive alter ego.

"All my life, I've been letting somebody else control me, dictating my own actions as payment for a terrible crime I supposedly committed. Now I know I didn't even commit that crime. It's time I stopped taking orders from others. It's time I stopped wallowing in my past. It's time I started moving my own destiny forward, to protect those I still love."

Just before the blades could be let fly towards Sic, Ezra reversed their direction.

His body was skewered all the way through at a hundred different angles.

Sic let out a terrifying, bloodcurdling scream.

Sic crawled determinedly towards his brother's limp body on the floor, and closed his hand around Ezra's severed wrist.

The flash of light that followed was so bright, all who saw it would have the image burned into their retinas for days.

* * *

**So...? How was it? I'm DYING to know what you guys think! So let me know! Or else!**

**By the way, anybody see the latest anime episode? What do you think about the new filler arc?**


	26. The Aftermath

**AN: Hey all! The story's almost done! Thanks so much to everyone reading through so far! I really appreciate it! Boy, it certainly was kind of a shock going back to regular writing after all those fight scenes... whew! Anyway, sorry I haven't update in a week. Hope you enjoy!**

**Notice: Passive voice is not to be used, and Fairy Tail is not owned by me.**

Chapter 26: The Aftermath

The lights were flickering on and off.

On, and then off again. On and off. On and off.

What was this feeling? Where was he?

Everything slowly but surely came into focus. Blurry, shaking, technically incomprehensible, but focused. For how could Sic not focus on what he saw?

It was the most familiar sight he'd come to expect every time he woke up. A soft, pale face with perfectly smooth skin, both stretched by hardship and softened by friendship. Deep, warm, gooey chocolate-brown eyes, brimming with worry. Soft, luscious pale red lips. Long blonde hair flowing down to her shoulders, with some of it tied off in a ponytail to the side.

It was Lucy's face.

Sic's eyes snapped wide open.

"He's awake! He's awake!" And just like that, Lucy was gone. She'd run out of the room.

With Sic's visual stimulus lost, he slumped back onto his bed, and his eyes fluttered shut again.

The lights were flickering on again. What are these voices?

"-what? I thought you said he was awake, Lucy!"

"I did! I swear, he opened his eyes!" The voice paused, and then continued in a shaky tone. "He really did…"

He knew that voice. Sic forced his eyes to open and sat up, but was unprepared for what he would find. He sat in a bed in a small white-walled room, packed with medical equipment. He had various tubes and syringes affixed all over his arms and a few on the rest of his body. To his left, a lacrima screen displayed a graph of his heartbeat and respiration rate, but it was hard to make out through the crowd of people looming over him.

The entire Fairy Tail guild was crammed into this small room. They all stood over him, staring in silent shock. Everyone was covered in bandages, bruises, and the like, but looked not too worse for wear. Lucy was the first one to break the silence.

"Sic!" she exclaimed euphorically and tackled him, crushing Sic's tired ribs with an energetic hug. "I missed you so much," she whispered into his ear. At this the entire guild broke into full-on childish grins, and began pelting Sic with praises and verbal pats on the back. The amount of merriment was far too much for one room, but it soon died down just as abruptly as it began.

Everyone turned and stared at the ruined figure that had just entered the room.

He was covered head to toe in white bandages, soaked with blood. He leaned on a crutch under each arm. Various chunks of his body were missing, the most noticeable being his right hand, the lower half of his left leg, and a piece of his right hip.

For a minute the guild just stared at the man in gloomy, mistrustful silence. Finally, Wendy spoke up. "Ezra, what are you doing up? You shouldn't be able to even stand yet, much less walk!" Ezra said nothing.

Natsu stepped as close to Ezra as he dared. "You're lucky you and your buddies even got to stay in our infirmary, bastard! If it weren't for what Erza said, I would've tossed you right off the ship!" Ezra said nothing.

Erza pulled Natsu back roughly. "Now, that's enough, Natsu." She regarded Ezra with a stare, not exactly cold, not exactly forgiving, but simply understanding. Ezra spoke up with a raspy voice.

"Where is my brother?"

Sic struggled to get up, but fell back down on his back again. Lucy gave him a look of concern. He felt Lucy's embrace tighten. Sic tried to speak up, but his mouth wouldn't open.

The guildmaster finally stepped up. "Now, boy, I don't know exactly what you mean by 'your brother,' but I do know that you almost killed my children. Now, according to Erza, what happened last week wasn't _exactly_ your fault, but don't try my patience. If you know what's good for you, you'll go back to your own infirmary room and rest until you've come to your senses and can tell us what happened."

Sic couldn't bear it anymore. In one burst of temporary strength, he gently pushed Lucy off of him and rose, trembling, to his feet. He shoved his way through the guild members and threw his arms around the bandaged wreck.

The whole guild gasped. "So it _is _you, Sic… I didn't just imagine it." Ezra's muscles, taught and strained, gave out, and all of a sudden, Sic was left holding up his brother's dead weight. Unfortunately, in his weakened state, Sic couldn't sustain that for long, and so he and his brother collapsed onto the floor. Sic was in shock, and Ezra was laughing hysterically.

Bemused, Gildarts lifted the two brothers and hoisted them onto the bed, both still wrapped in each other's arms. Lucy huffed, clearly a little jealous. Makarov turned to Sic. "Well, now that you're awake, Sic, and given that you clearly know this man… maybe _you_ can explain why he attacked us."

Sic hadn't thought about it at all, but he thought he had an explanation. Sic nodded, took a deep breath, and filled everyone in on the tale of how he had been attacked by his brother when he was little and taken to the white prison. He also told them of how he'd seen his brother Jellal in a dream, but left out the part about why he was up in the mountains in the first place. As usual, everyone was enraptured by his masterful bard's voice. "…so you see, Ezra was the same one who attacked me back then," he explained.

Natsu raised his hand. "So are you saying he's always been crazy?" Everyone facepalmed.

"So MANLY!" Elfman yelled. Everyone facepalmed again.

"What does _that_ have to do with anything?" Evergreen snapped.

"Oooh, you two are in _looove_," squealed Happy.

"Shut up, cat!" Lucy snapped.

"Hey, leave Lily out of this!" Gajeel threatened.

"SILENCE!" Makarov roared. Everyone meekly quieted down. Sic awkwardly cleared his throat and continued to speak.

"I was, ahem, just getting to that part. You see, our father was the famous Juan Carlos Fernandes. He was an extremely powerful wizard, a member of the Ten Wizard Saints in his own right. But you see, he hailed from the ghost town of Ruinweld. Judging by your expressions, I gather that you've heard of it. There was an ancient curse set on the place by a dark wizard that stated, anyone born in the town who chose to leave would be forever haunted by dark spirits named _eidolons_ for the rest of their days, and so would all their descendants for the rest of eternity. However, Juan Carlos figured out a way to circumvent the curse. By inscribing his face with a spiritual tattoo, he could ward off the evil spirits. And it worked, too! He lived a long and successful life. But the curse extended to his descendants, and so, when each of us were born, he inscribed the same tattoo over one of our eyes to prevent the eidolons from taking hold. But when Ezra was in such a terrible emotional state, a single eidolon found a gap in his spirit large enough for it to slip through, temporarily. It possessed his body and made Ezra attack me. When Ezra was going to cut my face, my magic automatically kicked in and reflected his attack, which is where his X-shaped scars come from. Not only that, but I believe my white magic also expelled all forms of evil from his body."

Gray scratched his head. "But if you got rid of the spirit, why did he go crazy today?"

"It's because the spiritual tattoo is technically a form of dark magic. I must have burned the tattoo right off his face, and that meant that from then on, the eidolons got unobstructed access to his body. Now, I don't think they actively controlled him his whole life- it's hard for an eidolon to exhibit human qualities- but I think it certainly influenced his general life path, and probably convinced him it was okay to attack Fairy Tail. Right now, he's still protected by the residual traces of my white magic, but we're going to have to find some way to shield him from the eidolons again."

The whole guild stood and pondered his story. Levy was the one to break the silence this time. "I-I'd be happy to search the library for some kind of spirit ward- maybe I can find out how to re-inscribe that tattoo!"

"I'll help you with that," said Freed.

"Yeah!" Wendy chimed in. "And I'll work on some kind of healing spell to get Ezra's body recovered as fast as possible! I'll do my very best!"

Natsu cackled. "Evil spirits, huh? Even more stuff to blow up!"

Elfman's eyes filled with manly tears. "Fighting against evil spirits within is just so damn MANLY!"

No one disagreed.

It was pretty busy around the guild for the next few days. Sic was still stuck in his infirmary room. He could barely walk. He was pretty sure he'd invested a significant portion of his energy into saving Ezra's life. Not that he minded, of course. He'd gladly give his life to save his brother's. What was that called again?

Lucy came to visit him from time to time. She would talk, about all the guild's crazy escapades as of late, and then he would talk, spinning epic tales as per the usual. Some nights, she would support him and they would walk out into the fields around the guild, and they would lie down and watch the stars. They both liked to watch the stars, but for different reasons.

For Lucy, they symbolized all her friends, all the Celestial Spirits she knew would always be by her side. They would always be there, watching over her. But for Sic, the stars represented change. They wouldn't be there forever. One day the light of those stars would run out. And he liked it that way, for that was what made the light they gazed upon now priceless.

Sic tried not to think about what Loki had told him, about why he'd ended up in the mountains in the first place. But it was eating away at him, and he knew he'd have to get it off his chest sooner or later. So one night, he told her about it.

Lucy frowned upon hearing the news. "Oh, that Loki. I'll have to give him a _real_ good talking-to later."

"Wait. S-so… you're not mad at me for not telling you?"

Lucy shook her head. "Of course not. What Loki said to you- that was terrible. I feel awful that one of my spirits made you feel that way."

"But- but what he said was true. I put you-"

His words were cut off by Lucy's lips, pressed firmly to his own. She shoved him to the ground and kissed him again and again, passionately, relentlessly. Sic was flustered beyond belief. There's no way this was real, right? _Please, tell me this isn't real. I'm not recovered enough yet._

When Lucy finally halted, Sic struggled for breath, gasping like a fish out of water. "I don't understand-"

"Look, Sic. Are you happy right now?"

Good question. Was he?

"Yes." He paused, and then spoke again, more confident this time. "Yes, I am."

Lucy smiled at him. "Then I'm happy."

In the back of Sic's mind, Sic pondered Lucy's question. Was he _really_ happy? How could he tell? How would he know?

Lucy kissed him again.

Yes. He definitely was.

**Thanks so much for reading! Have a super awesome fan-freaking-tastic supercalafragulisticexpialodocious day!**


	27. Epilogue

**Heeeeeey! So! The story is finally done! Thank you sososososo much to everyone who stuck with it all the way through to the end! Special thanks go to Libby8980 and M0M3NTAI for the innumerable reviews and support. I couldn't have done this without you guys! Now, go forth, young reader, and enjoy.**

**Notice: If you somehow haven't realized by now that I don't own Fairy Tail, I'm afraid you're hopeless, my friend.**

Chapter 27: Epilogue

It had been two weeks since the battle between Hydra Claw and Fairy Tail, and Ezra felt sick to his stomach. Walking hadn't been easy for him since the battle, but he just had to sneak out of the infirmary. He'd started to miss the night sky.

Ezra sighed as he rested his arm on the bridge overlooking a quiet river. He hoped his guildmates were alright. They'd all recovered much faster than him and gone back home to confront the Master, but he'd received a message saying Master had disappeared without a trace. It figures. The one guy behind this wouldn't stick around once his big plan failed.

Of course, Master _wasn't_ the only one behind this. Ezra himself had been a huge part of the problem. He'd beaten and sexually abused Mira and Lucy, tortured Lisanna and Elfman, and almost killed Gray, Erza, and Sic. What kind of human could possibly do that to others and not even remember it? How was he worthy of this guild's hospitality and life support, the same guild that he'd tried to destroy with all his might?

A wave of pain surged through Ezra's body. He still hadn't gotten used to the body implants Sparky made for him. He could feel his vision fading as he started to slip over the rail.

A strong hand caught Ezra and pulled him back onto the bridge. Ezra felt his vision started to come back. It revealed a beautiful red-haired woman smiling down at the man leaning on her shoulder for support.

"You're up late," mused Erza wryly. "Since when can you walk, anyway?"

Ezra grinned back. "Since I got bored."

He stood and simply admired the stars with her for a while, enjoying the warmth of her shoulder. He really did love being near her. It was more than some sort of physical attraction. The Titania was something else.

But Ezra knew he owed it to her to tell her what he knew about Gray.

"Hey, Erza- listen… there's something-"

"No, there's something I need to ask _you_, Ezra."

* * *

Gray sat by himself in his apartment out on the edge of town, his mind full of a certain requip mage. He'd barely talked to her in the last two weeks, even though he felt like he'd already poured his feelings out for her back in his fight with Ezra. But of course, he'd only done that once he thought she was already dead, and it was too late. Looking back on it, it seemed cowardly, especially since nothing had happened ever since.

Gray sighed and reached for another beer. Oh, well. Looks like things would be returning back to good old normal. He took a swig.

A sharp knocking at his door startled Gray, causing him to choke on his beer. Hacking and coughing, Gray stumbled to his feet and staggered over to the door. What jackass would come here at this time of night? It was probably Natsu playing a prank. Gray swore he would teach that flamebrain a lesson.

Gray pried open a door, immediately stopped his coughing, and stood up straight.

"Uh-ah-oh-ee-oo-ah-I-uh…"

"Hello, Gray. Mind if I come in?" Erza entered without waiting for Gray's response. Gray suddenly went into high gear, madly darting around the apartment and hiding all the empty beer bottles. Erza would make him clean the town stables with a spoon if she found out how much he'd been drinking the past week.

Erza seated herself on Gray's couch and made herself at home. She wore a revealing white nightgown that went to just above her knees. Her feet were bare. Her toenails were painted red. _Red is a really nice color_, Gray thought. Why was he thinking that? Gray found himself staring at Erza's hair as if fluttered in the breeze from his open window.

Erza cleared her throat. Gray snapped to attention. "W-would you like some tea, Erza?"

Erza gratefully accepted the tea, but shuddered when she swallowed it down. "This tea… this is ice cold."

Gray blinked in confusion. "Is there any other way to drink tea?"

Erza sighed exasperatedly. "Never you mind. Just come sit here, will you?" She patted the spot next to her on the couch. Gray hastily obliged. This would probably turn out to be one of those nights where Erza forced everyone to play Scrabble with her and let her win, so Gray had better do everything she said or heads were gonna roll. Though, didn't Natsu and Lucy usually play, too? And wasn't it usually at Lucy's place?

"So, uh- what's up, Erza? I mean, not that you need a reason for coming here, of course, you're always welcome, I was just wondering since it's kinda late and-"

"How do you feel about me, Gray?"

Gray's eyes were wider than his mouth. The skin underneath his left one twitched rapidly. "Uh-uh-uh-uh…"

"Well?" Erza said impatiently.

"I-I-what I mean to say is, I mean, we're nakama, right? Super special guild partners. Yeah, that's it!" Gray stammered.

Erza fixed him with her deadly Erza Stare. "That's not what Ezra said. What did I say about lying to me, Gray?"

Gray jumped and fell to his knees. "I'm so sorry, Erza! I didn't mean to lie to you! I'minlovewithyouIhavebeeneversincewewerekidspleasedon'tkillmepleasedon'tkillmepleasedon'tkillmeohgodpleaseohpleaseohplease…" There. He'd done it. He'd confessed. Not as part of his plan, either. Instead, he'd sped-recited it while apologizing and begging for mercy, kneeling at Erza's feet in his booze-stinking apartment. This could not be happening.

Erza laughed bent down and tilted Gray's chin up. "I knew it!"

"Wait… wha?"

I didn't just imagine you saying that! When I woke up after Ezra defeated me, I remember you fighting Ezra and you said you loved me…" Erza said shyly. "You put everything you had on the line to save me and the rest of the guild. There's no way for me to express how that makes me feel about you, Gray." Gray leaned back against the couch, stunned, while Erza licked her lips in anticipation. "Okay, maybe there's one way…"

Gray didn't expect her to kiss him. He definitely didn't expect her to do it forcefully, so dominantly, that all he could do was surrender and hope she'd let him come up for air. Luckily, she did. Gray collapsed and fell off the couch, gasping desperately for air.

"Wait… why me, Erza? What about Ezra? What about… Jellal?"

Erza shrugged. "Ezra thought this way was for the best. And as for Jellal… I needed to choose between him and Fairy Tail. And I could never, ever, ever leave Fairy Tail. And you, Gray… you're a huge part of everything Fairy Tail means to me. Strength, courage, loyalty, bravery… you've got it all."

Gray was way too flustered to form coherent sentences. "But I… I mean… you're… _Erza_… I'm just…"

"Shut up, Gray," Erza ordered. "Get back up here." She patted the couch again.

It finally started to dawn on Gray. This was what he'd been waiting for. Erza was _his_. She really wanted to intertwine their lives in that special way. And she wasn't going anywhere. She was waiting for him with open arms.

Gray grinned and climbed back onto the couch. "Oh, _that_ already...? Erza purred. "I like that."

Gray glanced down to see he was no longer wearing anything but his underwear.

Erza's lips stifled his cry.

* * *

Ezra could tell it had begun, that a special new bond was already forming between those two. Incredible things, bonds were. A bond between two people never came by itself. It was always a package deal, packed forever with its twin, the mutual end of the relationship from the other person. That's why a bond's power would always be twice that of the scar, because scars held power only for the one.

"Perhaps that's why Hydra claw never had a hope against Fairy Tail," Ezra mused aloud.

Ezra's shaking hands undid the bandages around his face. He lifted it up to feel the light of the stars raining their infinite wisdom and joy upon the earth.

Ezra could already feel his scars beginning to fade.

**Yaaaaaaay! I DEFINITELY plan on writing a sequel eventually, so if anybody wants me to write a super-epilogue at the end that kinda hints at what's to come, I'd be happy to oblige. Again, thank you all so very much for reading. In review, I think what I think I did best with this story is probably Sic's entire character. It kinda sucks that he's gone for a significant portion of the plot. As for what I did worst, some of my ideas are honestly kinda rip offish. (Guild of tragic pasts? Oracion Seis anyone?) Anyway, I honestly think this was pretty darn good for my first ever fanfic, and I hope you will all continue to support me in my endeavors with writing in the future. SPEAKING OF THAT, if you haven't yet, please go check out my Rogura fic. It's called Purple in the Dark, story's on my profile, I can guarantee you won't be disappointed if you liked this story. Once again, I cannot stress this enough, you guys are the absolute pinnacle of human existence. Seriously, go treat yourself to some ice cream or something. You deserve it. Bye! Have a day so good you don't even remember how it started by the end!**

**By the way, because I think it's kind of interesting, I'll share with you the songs I listened to on shuffle repeat the entire time I was writing this ****story:**

**1. Last One Standing- Simple Plan**

**2. Watercolor- Pendulum**

**3. Your Savior- Skillet**

**4. Be Somebody- Thousand Foot Krutch**

**5. Animal I Have Become- Three Days Grace**

**6. Never Surrender- Skillet**

**7. Monster- Skillet**

**8. Bring Me to Life- Evanescence**

**9. Goodbye- SR-71**

**10. Whispers in the Dark- Skillet**

**If you haven't listened to any of these songs, do yourself a favor and do so now. They are writers' gold. And yes, I really like Skillet, apparently. Okay. Bye 4 realz!**


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